


Adventures of the Omni-Triplets: Origins!

by DoubleWrong



Series: Adventures of the Omni-Triplets! [1]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 47,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22377877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleWrong/pseuds/DoubleWrong
Summary: Todd, Matheo, and Kate Harrison are pretty average kids, until a field trip goes wrong, and Todd, Matheo, and eventually Kate are entrusted with the Omnitrixes, 3 devices that allow them to Harness, Splice, and Optimize Alien DNA! The triplets are going to need to watch their backs, though, as the mystery of the Splicatrix's marks begins to spell doom for them all...
Series: Adventures of the Omni-Triplets! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610827





	1. O1: The Infiltration!

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-post of my fanfiction.net story, as requested by KarutoKS, on the Ben 10 subreddit. =)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd and Matheo Harrison break into a government base, and find 2 extremely powerful devices, The Splicatrix, and Optitrix, capable of allowing them to transform into different alien species! However, the staff aren't keen on letting the leave alive...

Todd Harrison was probably about as far from 'excited' as possible. He was lying upside down on his medium-sized black sofa, staring at his phone, which had lost power a while ago, with a phone case that was a mix of dark blue, and baby blue. The living room that was all but full of life. His twin sister, Kate, was out on the town with her friends, and his OTHER twin brother, Matheo, was in his room, doing who-knows-what... See, that's the thing, Todd's Twin brother was actually... A mad SCIENTIST... or an Inventor... It kind of changes, depending on the situation, though that didn't really seem like it left a ton of time for Matheo's social life to develop. Todd, on the other hand, used to have friends, Casey, and Brandon, that was, until about a week ago, when they decided they "didn't have time for him anymore." So yeah, now Todd had 0 friends.

The whole house felt empty, now. Despite being 13, he was feeling like his whole life had hit a dead end, and that's not mentioning his parents, who seemed to show up around once a year. The only thing that seemed to generally like him was HIS dog (Yes, HIS, not Kate's, despite what she says.), Fluffy, who was laying curled up against his side. Todd dragged himself off the couch, and upstairs. School WAS starting in only an hour, after all, and he couldn't go in his pajamas.

()

Todd took out a medium blue sweatshirt from his closet, and threw it on, along with some blue jeans, and finally, a red shirt, over the blue hoodie, with two black, vertical lines running over it, and a horizontal blue lightning bolt running through THOSE lines, with black bars outlining the sleeves of his T-shirt. Todd himself had ruffled hair, brown eyes, and a few freckles on both of his cheeks. Fluffy followed him into his room and looked at him, Fluffy himself was a Terrier Breed, with white-yellow fur, and a purple collar. As Todd exited the room, he saw Matheo walking out of the room opposite of him.

Matheo Scowled at Todd, "Well, well, look who finally fell out of bed. Ready to fail again?"

Todd rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Matheo, I've been up this whole time, you know."

Matheo had the same face as time, except with a slightly more sinister-looking twist. He wore a black T-shirt, with a yellow 'A', which stretched down, and wrapped around his waist, with grey shorts, and black sweatpants under those shorts, and his hair was less aimless, and was swished to the side. Matheo tried to shove Todd, but Todd moved, causing Matheo to barrel into the banister that ended the staircase.

"OW!" Matheo yelled.

Todd smirked. "Anyway, the field trip's today, y'know. Apparently, they're takin' us to a government base, that doubles as a museum, and maybe even a gift sh-!"

"Todd." Matheo cut him off. "Nobody gives a crap."

"Uh... Okay. Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed," Todd said, confused, both him and Fluffy following Matheo down the stairs. "I just thought since it's a government

base, you'd get a kick out of it, y'know, considering your... enthusiasm."

Matheo grumbled something under his breath, but conceded. "Hopefully we'll see Kate there. She's not in our class, but I always have smart conversations with HER."

Todd grinned. He was finally making some progress with his brother!

"So... Trip partners?" Todd asked.

"... Fine." Matheo sighed.

()

The two of them went off to school, which looked about how most schools do, with the exception of the science department, which shot up out of the side of the school, looking like something straight out of the future. It was always Matheo's favorite place, thanks to it's practically infinite budget, and how many other geeky kids were teeming there.

"Those nerds paid for your precious field trip, Todd." Matheo smirked.

Todd nodded, but his head was somewhere else. He was looking over at the bus stop, and saw Kate, His Twin Sister. She wore a grey T-shirt, with two white triangles at the top and bottom, forming an almost hourglass symbol. She wore white highwater pants, and her hair was curled around her face, which bore a resemblance to Todd and Matheo's faces, but

more feminine, and she was also wearing elbow covers. Kate was standing at the bus stop, talking to her best friend, Amy Lockehart, whom Todd had always had a slight crush on... Okay, MAJOR crush, but Kate made it pretty clear the Amy already had a boyfriend, and that she would kill Todd if he dared ask such a question around Amy.

"He-e-ello...?" Matheo said, waving his hand in Todd's face. "The buses are leaving, NOW. It might not be formal to get into the buses straight away, but I'm not about to ditch a field trip, and RUIN my perfect record, you know!"

"Right, right." Todd agreed. "Let's go."

The two brothers sat next to each other, and Todd looked back at Amy and Kate, who were sitting a few rows behind them.

"What's your deal?" Matheo asked.

"Uh, nothing." Todd said. "I was just wondering... Why does Kate never, like, hang out with us anymore?"

"Uh, she grew up... And in fairness, I wouldn't want to hang out with us if I was her. We're kind of dorks. I mean, I'm 'booksmart,' you know, and you... have no friends."

Todd's head swiveled towards Matheo, panicked. "How'd you-?! ... Actually, you know what? I don't wanna know."

"Good choice." Matheo smirked.

The bus began moving, and the twins waited in silence. They'd been all over the city at this point, so there wasn't too much new to see. Todd stared out the window, anyway, while Matheo fiddled with another one of his inventions, something that looked like a slice of cake, with a clock inside, or something like that. Todd never paid too much attention to Matheo during the boring parts of his inventing. Eventually, the bus stopped at a large, grey, rectangular building, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, in the middle of the desert on the outskirts of the city.

"This is it?!" A girl yelled from the row next to Todd. "We're going to a BRICK?!"

Matheo chuckled to himself. "Insolent fool. The inside is always the interesting part..." He looked at Todd, who was staring at him. "... What?"

The bus opened it's doors, and the kids poured out, Todd walked over to where the teachers were, before he ducked behind a small wall, seeing Matheo next to him. "Great minds must think alike, huh?" Todd grinned.

Matheo sighed. "I guess you're in the mood to try and get a free souvenir too, huh, Todd?"

"I just wanna see the government part of this place... You've got the gadgets?"

"... It's not ideal. I couldn't fit too much in my backpack. Only two hologram disks, and a goo shooter."

"WHAT?!" Todd practically shouted. "No invisibility cloak, no memory eraser?! What if we're SEEN?!"

"Then don't get seen, doofus. You can still back out if you want."

"Oh, I'm not backing out, I just would appreciate a backup plan."

()

The twins snuck around the building, carefully avoiding the class, and snaking their way around the complex, trying to find an alternate entrance, but the only door they found was locked tight. Todd and Matheo both tried to lift it, but there was no luck. Matheo then took out his goo shooter, and set the chemical mixture to 'acidic,' and blasted it at the door, melting a giant hole in it.

"Don't touch the edges." Matheo warned, as he carefully wormed his way through, before Todd dived through, and rolled on the ground, with hardly a scuff. "Or, you can be extra. That works, I guess."

The twins looked around the room, there were cardboard boxes, stacked up to the ceiling, and they were arranged in a labyrinth pattern, almost. Todd and Matheo both slid through the maze, without making a sound, and eventually came to a door, which was locked. Todd snatched Matheo's goo shooter, aimed it at the door, and pulled the trigger, before Matheo's eyes widened. He grabbed the gun, and slid it at the base of the door, as it was now making a beeping sound. He and Todd both jumped back, as the shooter exploded, blowing a hole in the door, and setting off at least 3 different alarms.

"What was that?!" Todd yelled, confused, and running through the hole.

"The shooter was out of ammo, so when you pulled the trigger again, you activated the self-destruct!" Matheo shouted back.

"Why the heck would you program THAT in?!" Todd cried, ducking behind more boxes, as footsteps intensified.

"So, it wouldn't be useless when I ran outta ammo, DUH."

"Shh, shh, guards!"

As Todd warned, two men in black suits came sprinting around the corner, holding pistols, and pointing them in the dimly-lit room. "Any sign of the culprit?" One of them asked.

"Nope. Look around. They can't have gone too far."

Matheo and Todd crawled into the boxes that were making up their hiding place, and closed the lid, just as one of the agents looked over the wall, and surveyed the space behind it. His face contorted with suspicion, and he began to open the boxes the twins were hiding in, when suddenly...

"James, get over here, there's an acidic hole on the storage door!"

James let go of the box cover, and ran over to his partner, and, while they were distracted, Todd and Matheo crawled out of the boxes, and snuck out of the room, while hearing the guards theorizing about the possibility that one of the test subjects may have escaped. Todd and Matheo both sprinted down the hallway, before they saw shadows of the guards drawing near to them.

Matheo noticed a door that was labeled "Danger," And figured nobody would be stupid enough to go in there, so nobody would look there. The door was locked behind a retina scan, so he took out a holographic disk, set it to look like a guard, and made the hologram to activate the door.

Todd was oblivious to all of this, and snatched a small pipe that had fallen from the roof, and held it in front of him, and backed towards Matheo, before Matheo grabbed him by the collar, and yanked into the room. As the guards walked by, Todd and Matheo were now in the danger room, which was completely dark. Matheo used his other hologram disk as a light source, and let out an audible gasp. Todd turned around, and saw a glass case, with two devices in it, one resembling a square watch, with a black screen in the middle, and two blue lines that moved towards each other, and back again, and the other far thicker, with four white and red tubes that wrapped around it, and a red and black hourglass symbol in the middle, with a button beneath it.

"What... is this place? ... and are those, like, high-tech watches?" Todd asked, dumbfounded. "Why would anybody dedicate an entire room to watches? ... And only 2 of them, for that matter?"

"Maybe this has something to do with it?" Matheo asked, pointing the disk at a sign that read 'THIS ROOM CONTAINS OBJECTS THAT ORIGINATED FROM A VORTEX IN THIS EXACT LOCATION. ALL STAFF MUST REFRAIN FROM PHYSICAL CONTACT'

Todd looked at the watches, and noticed two labels, the blue watch was labeled 'Splici', and the red watch was labeled 'Opti.'

Todd shook his head. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but if we're gonna get out of here, we should probably try these. I mean, what else are we gonna do?"

Matheo nodded. "Let's just... There!" He put the pointed side of the holo-disk into the bottom of the glass, and managed to remove the case noiselessly, at the cost of the disk.

Todd reached for the blue watch, while Matheo reached for the other one, and to their surprise, the watches suddenly jumped onto their arms, causing them to yelp in surprise.

"What the?!" Todd cried, as he began trying to use the railing to pry off the watch, but he had no luck, it even kind of hurt him to try and remove it, while Matheo simply stared at his, entranced. "Fascinating." He said, "A watch that is capable of malforming, and attracting itself to it's user... and all in such a compact form..."

Todd suddenly looked back at his watch, and wondered if this watch would be such a problem. He began poking at it, trying to find some way to 'activate' it... Whatever that would mean. Todd eventually realized that the black and blue part of his watch was glossy, like the screen on a phone. He tried swiping at it, and a holographic blue ring popped up, with several faces on it, faces that definitely didn't look human. After about 2 seconds, the face became a hologram, revealing a monkey-like creature, with four extra arms, and 2 more seconds after that, the black part of the watch slid back, revealing a circular symbol, that resembled the one on Matheo's watch, with a silver rim around it.

The symbol rose up, attached to a core-like object, which began beeping. Todd stared at the symbol, confused. Matheo looked at Todd, and pressed the button on his watch, causing his core to pop up as well, revealing a hologram of a hulking humanoid beast, with 4 arms, and his core began beeping as well. The twins looked at each other, before Todd broke the silence.

"Well, I don't really like the beeping, so I guess I'll just press this thing back down-!?"

()

As soon as Todd pressed the core down, there was a flash of blue light, and in an instant, blue fur covered veins spring up from his watch, as they raced up his body, and reached his eyes, which both split into two. A black and blue tail sprung out of his lower body, while his legs shot up into his abdomen, and his arms split into 8 different arms, and the hourglass symbol appeared on his left arm. The light faded. It felt like only a second, but after that light faded, he was completely different. He started yelling in a higher pitched voice, and quite literally ran up the wall, ceiling, down the other wall, and raced laps vertically like this for a bit.

()

Matheo saw this, and grinned from ear-to-ear. "Oh, My turn." He raised his right hand in the air, and slammed it down on the core, as red light shot out from the watch.

()

Crimson-tinted veins shot up from Matheo's watch, racing up to his eye, turning it bright yellow, and pupil-less. Two extra arms shot out from Matheo's shirt, as the 'A' on it became a yellow line that ran up his shirt. Matheo's skin was now deep red, and the line from his shirt became black, and ran vertically along his head. Matheo's arms were now extremely muscular, and he began flexing.

()

"Hey..." Todd suddenly said. "Wait a sec... I actually feel... fine, okay, great, LIKE A MILLION BUCKS!" Todd yelled, suddenly ecstatic. "I mean look at me, I'm Spider-man, and I can even see in the dark!"

Todd put two paws out, and stuck out a few fingers, but now webs appeared, and he fell flat on his face.

Matheo picked Todd up with only his pinky finger, and his thumb. "This is beyond cool. I mean, I was expecting maybe a badge, or something, but shapeshifting watches, I mean, come on!"

Todd's four eyes suddenly widened. "Uh... Yeah, How, exactly do we turn back into humans?"

Matheo stuttered. "Uh, still working on that. In the meantime, I know how we're getting out of here."

The door was suddenly punched open, and several agents began clearing into the room, and Todd grabbed Matheo, and scurried onto the roof, desperately trying to avoid them.

"Sir!" One of the agents shouted. "The Splicatrix and Optitrix have been taken!"

"Optritrix? Splicatrix?" Matheo asked. "Is that what these watches are called?"

The guards looked up, and began shooting at the ceiling, causing Todd to drop Matheo, and scurry away from the rain of bullets. Matheo used the gravity to his advantage, and delivered a devastating ground pound, knocking away almost all of the guards, while Todd ran down, and accidentally shot one of the guards with his tail. The guard was suddenly caught in a rather large spider-web. Todd grinned, and quickly tied several guards together with his webbing, and threw the combo into the other guards, clearing them out just long enough for Todd to escape, while Matheo tore the door off of it's hinges, and used that to smack most of the guards out of the way, and began clearing after Todd, before they were stopped by one last guard, with what appeared to be a flashlight.

"So, you took our property, huh guys?" He smirked. "Well, they haven't exactly bonded to your DNA, yet, so they can be removed rather easily, you know."

Todd curled his tail upwards, and shot several webs the guard, before he used his flashlight to bring forth a plasma beam, incinerating the webbing, and blasting Matheo back a few feet, before he came barreling back through the smoke, and backhanded-slapped the guard into the wall, before the guard angled himself at just the right trajectory that he jumped off the wall, and onto the ceiling, and punched Matheo in the face, only for the punch to do nothing, and Matheo grabbed the guard, threw him to the side, and was webbed up by Todd, and the two continued their escape.

"Something tells me they don't know how to work these things." Todd joked.

They were stopped by the full squadron of agents, who were blocking the door, and began opening fire on the twins, but Todd grabbed Matheo, and flung him towards the massive overhead window.

Todd jumped after him, and covered his face. Matheo wound up a punch, and shattered the window, and the twins landed outside, and hid behind the bus.

"That oughta keep them off our backs, for now." Todd sighed.

"Yeah, but how long until they come out and see 2 aliens hiding behind the bus?! We're not exactly discreet."

Suddenly, they both heard a beeping sound, and a flash of yellow light shown from both of their watches, and they were finally back to normal. They climbed back into the bus through the window and tried to pretend that there weren't a bunch of guards looking for them.

()

"I can't believe that just happened." Todd said, as the last kids got back into the bus, and it began to return home.

"These... uh, let's see... Since yours splices, and mine optimizes, the plural should be... 'Omni,' cuz they can do both."

"Then..." Todd replied. "These Omnitrix's are AWESOME."

"Let's just be glad they actually bought the whole 'we got them at the gift store' story."

"Yeah. So, 'Splicatrix' huh? I wonder what the 'splice' part means..."

"Let's not find out on the bus, please…"


	2. O2: Not-So-Handy-Man!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Matheo attempts to hack his Optitrix to gain better control over it, things go horribly awry!

Matheo Harrison would hardly call himself ecstatic about the most recent development in his life. He and his brother, Todd Harrison had just found two 'Omnitrixes' fused to both of their left wrists, devices that they'd recently found in a government base earlier that week. While Todd was out probably using his Splicatrix' to play around, like the idiot he often was, Matheo was fuming at the fact that device he hadn't created, something he barely understood, was stuck to HIS arm. Only a primitive ape would call that fair.

So, like any rational person, Matheo was bent over his workshop, a large metal table at the end of the house's attic, covered with blueprints, microscopes, work-in-progress inventions, snacks, and a lamp. His latest addition to the table was a small slab, with four different metallic arms, which were attached to his 'Optitrix,' while the slab itself was connected by a cable to a small table Matheo was currently using to calibrate the machine, and above it was a large cone, pointed at his arm.

"Alright, that should get the job done." Matheo muttered, unaware of the footsteps behind him.

"What are you up to now, kid?" A gruff voice appeared from behind him.

Matheo turned around in his chair, but not completely, due to his left arm being strapped to the table. "What the-?! … Wait a sec, Legladon…?" He asked, confused.

"Yup." The man stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to be around 20, with a tan trench-coat, a sideways baseball cap, and a large scar, running across his forehead. "Been a while, huh Matt?"

"I keep telling you." Matheo sighed. "It's Matheo, or Mo, if you're lazy."

"So… What are you up to now? What's with the… uh… Skylight?"

"It's powered by the sun, nitwit. If I'm gonna hack into this Optitrix, I'm gonna need power."

" 'Op-tee-trick?' What's that?"

Matheo turned back to his table, and began the start-up process. "Oh, just a souvenir I found during a field trip."

Legladon nodded. "Field trip, huh? Where'd ya' go?"

"Some museum… Look, could you just buzz off? I don't need anybody here knowing I'm associated with you, okay?"

"Fine, I'll leave… I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing, hacking something like that."

Matheo paused. " 'Something Like That?' What do you-?" He turned around, but Legladon had vanished.

Matheo's face began to twist a bit, but it returned to normal. After all, he just wanted to find some way to remove it, or control it better, or who knows what, it didn't matter. He DID know that Legladon was being cryptic, and that he knew more than he was letting on… Or did he? Matheo could never really tell with Legladon, after all. Matheo turned back to the tablet for the final time, and thumbed the activation prompt, causing the machine to whir to light, and a dark beam to shoot down from it, onto his Optitrix.

Matheo looked away, for particles were flying dangerously close to his face, before there was a small combustion on the surface of his workbench… Then another… Then another, and the next thing he knew, his entire table was on fire, and it was racing towards him, about as quickly as fire can, across metal. Matheo yelped as a spark touched his finger, and he began trying to tear his arm away, but the operation wasn't even close to being finished. He wasn't going anywhere.

Suddenly, the door was forced open, and Todd ran into the room, his Splicatrix beeping like crazy, and a confused expression on his face.

"Todd?!" Matheo yelled, still trying to get away. "What are you-?!"

"No time!" Todd began running towards Matheo, and activated his Splicatrix, before slamming the core down.

()

The Splicatrix sank into Todd's skin, as there was a large flash of blue light, before molten rocks began to cover his body, burning his clothes and hair off. His toes fused together, into a hook light shape, and becoming pure magma, the same going for his hands, while his head became engulfed in fire, forming a mask of rocks, with the Omnitrix symbol appearing on his chest.

()

"HEATBLAST!" He yelled as the blue light faded, and still running towards Matheo.

Matheo started shouting, "TODD, YOU IDIOT! What do you even plan to do, Roast me MORE?!"

HeatBlast stopped next to Matheo, and put both of his hands up, before absorbing the fire from the workbench, causing Matheo to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh…" He said. "So that was your plan."

HeatBlast shrugged. "Uh… Duh. Of course the fire guy an absorb fire. That just makes sense."

Matheo stared at him. "Please… Tell me you knew that."

"Uh…" HeatBlast looked around for something to change the subject to. "Hey, what's up with that machine? Did it start the fire?"

"No, my crippling nicotine addiction did." Matheo said sarcastically.

"So, why did it start the fire, then? … Did it… Overheat?" HeatBlast asked, slyly.

"Ha, ha." Matheo looked at the restraints. "Hey, think you could do me a favor, and get me out of these before it starts sparkin' again?"

"You got it, bro." HeatBlast said, putting his index finger onto the slab, causing it to superheat, and melt quickly.

Matheo yanked his hand out as soon as possible, before sighing in relief. "Thanks, I guess… Hey, wait, what was up with the whole 'HeatBlast' thing?"

"It's what I named the guy." HeatBlast said, shrugging.

"Why on earth would you name your transformations? That's just a waste of time. The only names they need, are 'fire-guy,' 'strong-guy,' 'smart-guy,' I mean, why put the time in on it?"

"Well, what if you've got 2 fire guys?"

"fire-guy-one, and fire-guy-two."

"Well, you don't tell me what to do. You can borrow my names, if you want, though." HeatBlast offered.

"Get bent." Matheo said simply, before returning to his workshop. "Ugh. It's ruined. I spent a whole 3 months on this, only for it to get burnt to a-"

He was interrupted by the machine catching fire for a second time, as it began to spread again. "Geez!" Matheo yelled. "The operation never finished!"

"On it!" HeatBlast yelled, running back to the machine.

()

Matheo sat outside the house, staring at his Optitrix, concerned. "Stupid Legladon… Stupid Todd, really. I guess when I started messin' with this, he got some signal… Whatever, Since the operation was interrupted, whatever I get outta this, it'll definitely be temporary…"

Matheo looked around. Then, he pressed the red button under the rim, before it popped up, but instead of the alien selection he was used to, there was a white line, before it made a low-pitched ticking noise. Matheo sighed, before he spun it to a random spot, and forcefully pressed the core down, before a strange, white light emitted from his Optitrix, and engulfed him.

()

Matheo's Optitrix sent veins out of it, before the veins abruptly stopped, leaving his arm malformed, before there was another flash, this one red, splitting Matheo in half. A hand sprung out of his halves, with the Omnitrix symbol on the back of itself, with the 4 eyes on it's knuckles.

()

The light faded in an instant, and Matheo looked at himself, a singular left hand, that seemed to be made up of several different left hands, presumably from his Optitrix's samples, though he didn't know which ones they were.

"What the-?!" Matheo cried, stumbling, falling down the steps on his porch.

He tumbled backwards, directly in front of Nelsie, one of Kate's friends, who yelped immediately at the sight of a disembodied alien hand hitting her ankle.

"AIEE!" She cried, jumping away from it. "It's a hand! It's a HAND!"

"I got it!" Kate said, running forward, kicking it a few feet away.

"Ugh… Thanks, Kate…" Nelsie stammered, before she saw the hand start to stand up, on it's OWN.

"Thank me later!" Kate shouted. "We gotta get outta here!"

As the girls ran away, Matheo snickered to himself. "See ya later, dorks." He said, satisfied.

Matheo decided to take a walk around the neighborhood, since he wasn't really doing much except waiting for his Optitrix to turn him back to human, (And no, he refused to say 'Humanize' to describe this process, no matter what Todd said.), So Matheo took a walk around their block, and almost immediately ran into trouble. There were two kids, who had tied some rope around a poodle's body, and had hung it from a tree branch.

"This is gonna teach Mrs. Canarry a lesson!" One of the kids said, wearing a skull onesie, and a denim jacket, with a buzzcut haircut, as he was reaching for a baseball bat.

"Yeah. She'll never give us anything under a B+ again!" The other said, wearing a blue, torn hoodie, and white shorts.

Matheo sighed. "Seriously? A poodle piñata?"

Matheo crawled over to the kid with the buzzcut, and crawled up his pantleg, and dug his nails into his leg, causing him to shriek, and throw his bat into the other kid's face, knocking him off his feet. Matheo moved down the kid's leg, and grabbed onto his ankle, and twisted himself at just the right angle to flip the kid onto his butt. Matheo crawled out of his pants, and onto his stomach.

"W-w-what the?!" The kid cried, trying to back away, despite the fact Matheo was on his stomach. "What ARE you?!"

"My name is… Uh…" Matheo paused. "Uh… The Handy Hero? … Yeah, that works."

"That name's lame, dude." The kid murmured uncomfortably.

"Look, I embody justice… Uh, without the body. So, you're like… going to jail, dude."

"That's… not how it works man. I'm like, 11."

"Juvie, then, jeez." Matheo shook his head. "Look, you're gonna regret trying to make a punching bag out of this dog. Untie him, now."

"What?! Look, man, we were just…"

"Now!" Matheo commanded.

The teen shoved Matheo off of him, and cut the rope in half, causing the poodle to drop from the tree, and scurrying off down the road.

"Uh…" Matheo said. "I was thinking you guys could… y'know, carry the dog home?"

"Okay, that's it." The kid with the buzzcut said. "HARRY! Whack him!"

"Wha-?" Matheo started, before he was smacked over the 'head' with the bat by the other kid, causing him to blackout.

()

Matheo woke up inside of a glass jar, sealed tight with a lid, that had around 5 air holes in it, with the two kids staring at him, their eyes widened as soon as he woke up. They were in a small room, with yellow, peeling wallpaper, and various pieces of trash littered around the room. One of the kids tapped the jar, causing extremely loud vibrations to assault his ears. He put his fingers up to his 'ears.'

"Jason!" Harry scolded. "What are you doing!?"

"I just wanted to see if he was dead."

"I guess. Well, he's not. He's awake, ain't he?"

"Yeah, the mutant freak of a hand is awake, whoop-de-doo."

"HEY!" Matheo yelled, still half-asleep, and with a splitting headache. "I can hear you, y'know!"

"Nobody cares." Jason shot back.

He flicked the jar, causing it to tip over. Harry picked the jar up, and set it straight. He crouched down, and stared intently at Matheo.

"Listen here, freak" Harry growled. "You cost us years of easy living by screwing up our ransom. Now, we're gonna dissect you. You are gonna pay."

"You kids are screwed up, y'know!"

"Whatever. Take a good look at the setup next to you. Whaddya think?"

Matheo looked to his right, and saw a small table, made out of some kind of metal, with tiny rubber band cuffs on it, for all of his fingers, and thumb, with several metal tools around it, including a spring. Matheo looked back to the kids.

"Okay, I get it, you guys are mad, I get it, but come on, Let's save this for science class, huh?"

"You know, he's got a point…" Jason said, thoughtfully. "If we brought this guy in for science, we could get a whole lotta extra credit… We could use that…"

"… No. Way." Harry spat. "This is personal."

He unscrewed the lid, and grabbed Matheo. He slammed Matheo against the table, holding him there while Jason strapped him to it with the bands. And grinned, sadistically.

"And it's gonna be way more fun than some stupid project."

"But before we do that…" Jason said, turning the table around, revealing a hole that Matheo's Omnitrix symbol was sticking out of. "Let's take THIS thing apart."

"Fine." Harry grumbled, and stuck a screwdriver blade into the space between the symbol's border and it's cover, trying to pry it open.

"Wait, guys!" Matheo begged. "We can talk about this, right!?"

"You didn't put tape over his mouth?" Jason asked.

"We were supposed to do that? I'll do it when we dissect him, so he doesn't scream… Too loud."

"Guys, Please!" Matheo cried.

Suddenly, Matheo's Symbol flashed with white light, blasting the kids and their tools back, and began to emit a voice:

"Code damage purged. Code damage repaired." The Symbol said, in a robotic voice. "Optitrix has been restored. Transforming user to default state, now."

There was a blast of red light, before Matheo finally found himself standing in front of the kids, looking at his hands.

"Alright, finally! Todd was totally lying about the whole '10 minutes' thing, that was like, 3 hou-!" Matheo stopped and looked at the kids, who were staring at him.

"Oh… Yeah, I guess you guys can't know about this… Huh. Oh, wait! I have the perfect thing for this!"

Matheo reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small metallic wand, which glowed green, turned it on, and pointed it at the kids. "Look at the light, m'kay?"

()

Matheo was standing in the attic, and staring at the device he used to hack the Optitrix, before he threw a white cloth over it, and stuck a note on it, which read: "Needs Work. LOTS of Work," and sighed. It was the first time in his entire life one of his inventions had failed him, especially so badly.

"Welp, maybe I should try and start from scratch…"

As he sat down on the couch, and stared at the machine, now defunct. Then, he looked at his Optitrix, and smirked. "Or… Maybe there's no real reason to try and hack this thing… For now."

Matheo stood up, and walked over to his door, and opened it to see an angry Kate, staring at him.

"Uh.. Hi?" Matheo asked, confused.

"Lemme see your watch." Kate said, simply.

"Huh?"

"Now."

Matheo held out his arm to Kate, who stared at his Optitrix, before exclaiming 'A-Ha!' and cracking her knuckles.

"What? What's going on?"

"That hand thing that attacked Nelsie! It was you!"

"What!? I'm not the Handy Hero!" Suddenly, Matheo covered his mouth, for he'd never told anyone except those two kids about his name. "Uh-oh." He gulped.

" 'Handy Hero,' huh? I'll show you 'handy!' " Kate shouted, as Matheo ducked under her, and ran out of the house as Kate chased him.

"Kate, really, it wasn't me!" Matheo cried, sprinting out of the house.

"Oh, yeah?! Quit running, then!"


	3. O3: The Dog-Napping Caper!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate and her friend Margot attempt to find Margot's missing dog, and stumble into a conspiracy run by Dr. Animo!

Kate Harrison was always there for her friends. She had garnered a reputation among her friend group, for being 'super-reliable.' Sure, none of them ever paid her back, but it's not like she could just dump them over the slightest ignored favor. After all, if she dumped all of her friends, she could become like her brothers, social outcasts in EVERY sense of the word.

So that's why, when Kate's close friend Margot came to her with a poster for her missing Corgi, Buddy, Kate jumped at the opportunity to help her find him.

"Of course I'll help!" Kate replied, excitedly. "Where'd you last see the lil' guy?"

"Oh, thank you!" Margot said, relieved. "Nobody in my family wanted to help, y'know. Oh, uh, I last saw him last night. He didn't come back when we put him out, and I found a hole in our fence, so he must have run through there."

"Alright, well, let's check that hole out then…" Kate thought for a second. "Do you think he coulda chewed through the fence, maybe?"

"No… You'll understand when you see it. Uh, could we get your parents, or brothers to help us out?"

"Not a chance." Kate replied. "My parents are outta the picture these days. Only seen them a couple of times. They keep saying stuff about them being spies, but I'd appreciate… Y'know, a serious response about why my own parents jus-"

"Yeah, okay." Margot interrupted. "Your bros? What about them?"

"... Okay, well, they've apparently got better things to do. Matheo said they were investigating a man who was apparently… Kidnapping… Dogs…" Kate's voice trailed off. "Oh, no."

"Kidnapping DOGS?!" Margot shouted, delirious. "Why didn't you say that earlier?!"

"I forgot! Look, we gotta go back to my house, quick!" Kate said, turning around, and sprinting back to her house.

()

Kate and Margot opened the door, and ran upstairs. Kate opened the attic door, pulled the ladder down, and crawled up into the attic, with Margot in tow. As soon as Margot laid her eyes on the high-tech machinery covering the room, her jaw hit the floor.

"What IS this place?!" She asked in amazement, skipping over to a wind-up pair of dentures with C4 embedded in the teeth.

"My attic." Kate sighed, looking through Matheo's blueprints. "It's where my dopey brothers hang out, and do experiments, and invent… Stuff, I guess."

"This is AMAZING!" Margot cried, as she threw open the closet door to reveal a jetpack, that shot out a large laser onto the ground to propel the user into the air. "Where do they get the funds to do this stuff?!"

"Don't know, don't care." Kate grumbled, and pulled out a whiteboard with a map of the neighborhood scribbled on it. "Hey, I think I found what we're looking for!"

"Woah." Margot squinted at the map. " 'Dr. Aloysius Animo Dog Chart.' "

"Hey, look!" Kate pointed at a scruffy-looking picture of a dog. "That must be your Corgi! … It says he was last seen at Almond Lane."

"Sweet!" Margot said. "That's where we gotta go… But first, do you think your bros would mind if we took a couple of gadgets for… self-defense purposes?"

"Oh, believe me, they won't know." Kate grinned.

()

Kate strapped metal guards to her arms, with mounted laser cannons. She also threw on holographic armor, as well. (How that works, she didn't know.) Margot refused to put on anything, instead opting to cover her entire right arm with a sleeve attached to a mini satellite and tablet, which she would use to find Buddy.

"I'm serious." Kate insisted. "This Aloysius guy sounds like he should be trouble. At least take… I dunno, a laser gun, or something?"

"Nope." Margot shook her head. "You'll do the fighting, I'll do the locating."

"That's not a good idea, sister. Just take SOMETHING."

"Not happening. We're just gonna take my dog back. What's the worst that could happen?"

Kate was well aware of the fact that her brothers, Matheo and Todd Harrison, were in possession of two alien devices known as the 'Omnitrixes,' which allowed them to transform into, like, a billion different aliens. If THOSE two were going after this guy, then this Aloysius guy is defiantly bad news. If Kate was lucky, they might be the only defense she needed, but she wasn't stupid enough to take that bet.

"Fine. I'll take an extra gun, just in case." Kate grumbled, reaching for a small clear pistol.

"OK." Margot replied. "Soo… Are we gonna go… Like, today?"

"Yeah, alright."

()

The two girls ran out into the neighborhood, being careful to watch their backs, and looking out for any possible threats… At least, Kate was. Margot didn't know anything about the Omnitrixes, so she didn't know why Kate kept jumping behind trashcans, and pointing her cannons at… Nothing. She had no clue why Kate was being so paranoid, but since Kate had read pretty much every superhero comic she could get her hands on, she knew that revealing secret identities never, EVER ends well.

"Margot, be careful!" Kate commanded. "We have no idea what could be around the next corner!"

"Kate, please." Margot sighed. "Don't make a joke out of Buddy's disappearance. He could be hurt… Really badly. My lil' cinnamon bun… Hurt."

"What? No, I'm not making a joke, Margot." Kate hesitated. "Look, I know you don't get what's going on here, but Buddy is in real trouble. All those dogs on that map are in trouble, if they're still alive, which, I truly hope they are."

"Buddy's… In danger?" Margot asked, stressed. "No… Please, No…"

"I know, but I-" Kate began.

"BUDDY!" Margot cried, interrupting Kate.

"Huh?" Kate asked, as Margot ran past her, got down on her knees, and hugged a small Corgi with butter-cover fur, at the edge of the sidewalk.

Kate smiled a little. She was wrong. And she was so happy to be wrong. If she was being honest, she wasn't really in the mood to fight a giant monster, or a mad scientist, or a bunch of-

"Huh…?" Margot asked. "Buddy? What's… What's going on? Are you okay?"

Buddy began whining… Really loudly. Kate ran over, and pulled her away from Buddy, who was now howling in pain, and curled up. Buddy grew 3 times his size, and his teeth grew as well, some even cutting into his lips. 2 giant, muscular arms thrust out of his back, resembling the arms of gorilla arms, but with blonde fur. Buddy's tail shrunk back into his hips, and so did his snout.

"B-b-b-buddy…?" Margot stammered, frightened.

"Here!" Kate said, slapping the extra pistol into Margot's Hands. "Told ya' you'd need this!"

"What?! No way, I will not hurt Buddy! No way!" Margot threw the gun onto the ground before smashing it to bits with her foot.

"Are you serious? What-" She gasped, before tackling Margot to the ground. "Get down!"

The mutated Buddy jumped over them, nearly scratching Margot, and landing behind them. Kate turned around quickly, activated her cannons, and fired several rounds at the creature. The blasts exploded on the creature in the back, causing it to howl out in pain.

"Stop, STOP!" Margot jumped in front of Kate's aim. "You're hurting him!"

"It's him or you, girl!"

"You'll have to go through me first."

The girls stared at each other for a second, before Kate sighed. She deactivated her cannons, and looked at Margot hopelessly. Before her eyes widened, as the creature had appeared behind them delivering a backhanded slap that sent them barreling into the fence, knocking Margot unconscious, and paralyzing Kate with the pain.

"…Ow…" Kate murmured, as the creature grabbed both of the girls, and flung them over it's shoulder, and carried them down the road. "Let… Go… of… of…"

Kate couldn't talk anymore. She continued to try and struggle, or talk, or SOMETHING, but she couldn't move, period. The creature continued on, arriving outside of the city, on the side of the road, and tore a hole in the barbed-wire, chain-link fence. There was a large, rectangular, grey building. The creature stood in front of the doors for a few seconds, before winding up, and breaking the blast doors down, and lumbering through the chrome, steel halls.

()

Kate's eyes widened a little. This was the museum that she had gone to during her field trip, and apparently where her brothers had found those Omnitrixes… Man, what she wouldn't give for one of those right now. The mutated Buddy broke open a door labeled 'Staff only,' and lumbered down the hallway, before stopping at a door labeled 'Dr. Animo.'

"Animo…" Kate whispered. "So he's really behind this, huh?"

The creature knocked politely on the door, before tearing it off it's hinges, and flinging the door down the hall, and tossing Kate and Margot into the office, and lumbering in, then sitting down on the bench in the corner. Animo's office itself was practically furniture-less, except for the bench, a desk, 2 chairs, and a pedestal, with a plaque, engraved with the words: "Where MY awards SHOULD go."

The chair behind the desk swiveled around, and Kate found herself staring at a balding man, with long, white hair. He was wearing a lab-coat, that was permanently stained dark-green, with a black undershirt, and deep yellow cargo pants, with black combat boots.

"Well, well." He said, with a maniacal grin. "And just who are you girls?"

"Kate. Kate Harrison. And this here, is my friend Margot."

"Wait a tick." Animo said, excited. "HARRISON?... As in, sister of those 2 kids?"

"U-uh…" Kate didn't know how to respond. "What 2 kids?

Animo smirked, and pressed a button on his desk. Suddenly, a panel turned around, to reveal Todd and Matheo, both strapped to the wall, with a giant, metal bar, and both unconscious. Kate tried to stand up, but the creature grabbed her shoulders, forcing her back down to the ground, while growling at her.

"Oh-Ho. I'll take that as a 'yes.' " Animo said, grinning like an idiot, now. "This is interesting. 2 little boys with superpowers, surely you have some too, yes?"

"Uh, no, actually." Kate shrugged.

"Oh, and you expect me to believe that? I know triplets, twins, quadruplets, whatever! They stick together through everything! There's no way you just, DIDN'T show up to such an important, life-changing event!"

Kate suddenly felt a pang of grief in her heart. She HAD been brushing off her brothers, acting like they were just a couple of lamebrains, when in reality, they WERE her family. And now, they were going to be closer to each other, than ever, and she would eventually be forced out of… Well, the only family she had left. And all because she wanted to ignore her own brothers. Sure they were lame, but that… What she'd been trying to do… It had been even lamer.

"Yeah." Kate said, quietly. "That's… That's exactly what happened, actually." She hung her head.

"…Really?" Animo asked, intrigued. "Well, then. Let's fix that, shall we?"

"Wait, what?" Kate asked, looking up.

"That's right, darling." Animo revealed a tranquilizer. "I've acquired quite a bit of… 'Data,' If you will, from those devices your brothers have. You're going to be my first test subject, Kate."

"No way!" Kate reached her leg up, kicking Animo in the chin, and jumping up.

She ran towards the door, only to be blocked by a very, very angry Buddy. Kate activated her cannons, and shot his shoulders dozens of times, creating 2 small explosions there. The creature was distracted, allowing Kate to slip behind it, and start unlocking the door, before Kate felt a penetration in the side of her neck. Everything began to be blur, and the last thing she saw was Animo, who stood over her, grinning.

()

Kate woke up, and felt cuffs, around her chest, arms, and legs. She was strapped against a table, which was attached to the wall. There were dozens of computer screens surrounding her, and she felt practically a hundred cables, plugged into the back of her…

"My NECK?!" She exclaimed, moving around from side to side. "How the heck are there cables plugged into my NECK?!"

"Well, that's the interesting part, dearie." Kate heard Animo say. He stepped out of the shadows, holding a clipboard. "It would appear you're not as human as you thought."

"What do you mean…?" Kate asked, slowly starting to feel the world start to slip away, little by little.

"You, my dear, are like a human-sized version of those… Omni… Whatevers."

"Huh…?"

"You store hundreds, of thousands, of Alien DNA samples contained in a chip that is exposed, extruding out of the back of your neck. It would appear that chip is connected to your nervous system, flesh, bones, muscles, organs… Everything."

Kate just shook her head. How is someone supposed to even respond to news like that?

"I assumed that I would need to mutate you by mixing your DNA with some animal's… But, now, I know that there is a safeguard that stops the DNA stored within your body from mutating you. It would be much easier to just…" Animo bent over, and pressed the 'enter' key on his computer. "Delete that little barrier."

Kate suddenly felt a surge of energy within her. She had a vision of a bright white light blinding her, before she suddenly regained her vision, and found herself unable to move. She saw Animo holding what looked like a video-game controller. He moved a controller stick downwards with his thumb, and immediately Kate's head looked downward, without her control. He was mind-controlling her.

"Now this, is interesting. This will prove to be far more useful than those other 2 boys." He thought for a minute. "Hm… If that's the case, I should use my new toy to… Take out the trash."

He forced Kate's arms to mutates into 4, large, muscular arms, busting the bar that was holding her in place, in half. She fell to the ground, before walking over to the wall, and smashing a giant hole in it, and walking back into Animo's office. Animo himself input several button combinations into the controller, and Kate raised her arms up, and prepared to eviscerate the boys.

"Todd, NOW!" Matheo whispered, and Todd nodded his head.

()

Todd pushed the core of his Splicatrix down, causing a massive flash of blue light to emit from the Splicatrix. The Splicatrix itself sent liquid black and blue metal flying over Todd's arm, swallowing Todd's arm whole. His legs shrunk to about one-fourth of their original size, and 3 blue dots, with silver outlines appeared on his chest. There were now three fins on his head, and an hourglass symbol on the back of Todd's head, as he let out a goofy, infectious laugh.

()

"SillyClone!" Todd yelled, and used his new body's shape to slip out of the restraint, with the extra space allowing Matheo to climb out, too.

The flash sent Kate stumbling backwards, before she shook it off. Animo sighed, and began re-inputting the combination, as Matheo jumped in front of him, and cracked his knuckles, then jumped at Animo, who swiftly pushed Matheo to the ground. Meanwhile, SillyClone split himself into 3, who simultaneously began taunting Kate.

"Hey!" The first SillyClone shouted. "Why don'cha pick on someone your own size?!"

"Oooh!" The second jeered. "He just called you short! You gonna take that?!"

"I'm gonna be honest." The third one shrugged. "I dunno what's goin' on."

As Animo finished the combination, Kate sprung to life, and her left 2 arms changed back to normal, before turning back into a strange green, frog-like head, with yellow eyes. She aimed it at the SillyClones.

"Did you know she could do THAT?!" The second SillyClone asked, panicked.

"Dude, we're the same guy!" The third one shouted, backing away. "None of us knew!"

"Guys, quit talking, and BOOK IT!" The first one yelled, and started running away, as the others followed suit.

Kate shouted, and grew two, large, dragon-like wings, and began flying after them. She swooped down, and picked the second SillyClone off the ground, before she flew through the roof with him, smashing a hole in the roof in the process.

"NO!" The first yelled. "Twobie!"

" 'Twobie?' " The third asked, before the second was thrown back down through the hole in the ceiling.

"Ow…" The second SillyClone muttered, rubbing his head. "... We gotta get her down!"

"Agreed… But how?"

The first SillyClone sighed. "Well, it's a good a time as any to try pressing the Splicatrix core again."

"Go for it."

SillyClone took a deep breath, before slapping the back of his head, creating another flash of blue light.

()

Light blue circuitry began to appear, and fill the black parts of SillyClone's clothing, moving the Omnitrix symbol from the back of Todd's head to his chest. SillyClone's two eyes both disappeared, and a bright blue ring appeared wear his eyes should be, and his laugh was now digitalized, like it was coming out of a computer.

()

"Woah!" Todd said, staring at himself. "I musta fused two aliens together!"

"So that's why it's called the 'Splica' – Trix, huh?" The other Todd said.

"What are we gonna call this… thing?"

"How about… SillyCode!"

"Sounds like a plan! ... Speaking of which… What IS the plan?" The third SillyCode asked.

The first looked around, saw the computer in Animo's lab, and smiled.

"Let's give THAT thing a try!" He said, and the other two followed him.

Meanwhile, Matheo was thrown into the wall, and shouted out in pain, as Dr. Animo dusted off his labcoat, before turning back to Kate, who had been flying in circles this whole time, due to the lack of instructions the whole fight, and began trying to get her to fly back through the hole, before he heard a loud, laser-esque noise behind him, and saw Matheo, who had now Transformed into HeatBlast, and who threw a fireball at him. Animo's froze. "Uh-oh."

The three SillyCodes jumped onto the computer, and their body's all malformed, and swallowed the computer, before transforming it into a small mechanical suit, that began to take off, before flying swiftly through the roof, and after Kate, who had resumed flying in circles.

"Okay, Kate! Last chance to turn good!" SillyCode shouted at her, but she ignored him. "Okay… I warned you!"

SillyCode flew at Kate, firing several missiles at her, which exploded, and flung her back down through the building, directly onto Animo, as Matheo grabbed the Controller, and melted it into a puddle. Kate suddenly shook her head, and looked around, before she heard Matheo start whining.

"AW, MAN!" Matheo pouted. "Seriously?!" Kate's got powers, too?!"

"Uh, yeah. Weird, huh?"

SillyCode flew down through the roof, and timed-out, turning back into a human with a bright yellow flash. "And talk about those powers, huh? Pretty cool!"

Animo stood up behind them, and tried to sneak away, before Matheo appeared in front of him, and punted him into the wall, knocking him out.

"All's well that ends well." Todd smirked.

"Uh… Not really." Kate said, and looked around, before she saw a room with a door labeled 'Mutation Room.'

The triplets opened the door, to find the still mutated Buddy, laying cuddled up on the floor, with Margot cuddled up next to him, and every single dog that had gone missing over the past month.

"Okay. Now it ends well."

"Sweet." Matheo smirked. "All we have to do now is just set the dogs free, and de-mutate the big dog!"

Margot suddenly woke up, and stared daggers at Matheo. "Don't even think of touching my baby." Before she went back to sleep.

Matheo sighed. "Fine. Just releasing the dogs."

Kate and Matheo both walked into the room, and began opening the kennel doors, and letting the dogs out, while Todd just stared bewildered at them.

"Guys?" Todd asked, confused. "We're not even gonna give his tail back? Really?"

Matheo and Kate both turned around and looked at him for a second, before they both began laughing hysterically. "Classic Todd!" They said at the same time, and continued laughing.

"I'm going home." Todd said simply, turned around, and left.


	4. Gladiator - Todd!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd finds himself, and a group of kidnapped taxi drivers, in an intergalactic gladiator ring!

Todd Harrison called himself a hero. There. He said it. Matheo, and now Kate, would never be caught dead saying something that cheesy, but you don't get that sort of 'beat-around-the-bush' behavior with Todd. No, he didn't want to just ignore his new abilities, or underplay them, or prove he could still fight crime without this one specific gadget, but instead:

"Use a BUNCH OF DIFFERENT GADGETS!" Todd was yelling as quietly as possible, while sitting on top of an apartment rooftop, surveying the streets for crime. "I mean, really, it's the exact same effect, but way lamer! Like, what does Matheo even think he's accomplishing here?!"

Todd sighed, and shook his head. Kate just got her powers 3 days ago, so she wasn't comfortable crime-fighting, especially since she couldn't fully transform to mask her identity, so until she'd finished her makeshift costume. Matheo loudly declared he would rather eat spoonful after spoonful of raw cinnamon until his mouth exploded, before he joined a superhero team with both Todd AND Kate on it. This meant that Todd petty much had to go solo on his patrols into the city.

It was about 1:00 in the morning, too, so that definitely didn't help. The city itself, though was extremely beautiful, especially at night. If he was being honest, the lights were the only thing that was keeping him up this late, even if he had fallen off the building a few times, by now. Todd lived in downtown California, more specifically, Bakersfield, and he knew the place like the back of his hand… At least, the routes relevant to him, not, like, the whole city, or anything.

"Geez, LOUISE!" Todd shouted, scratching at his tired face with his hands, which had lost all feeling a long time ago. "Why is nothing HAPPENING?!"

Todd waited patiently. He waited for a gunshot to go off, or somebody to scream, or a squad of cop cars to go racing past him, but… Nothing. He sighed, and activated his Splicatrix, and settled on an alien that appeared to have giant wings sticking out of his back. Todd smiled, and when the core popped up, he jumped up, and began running towards the edge. Todd eagerly ran off of the building, and slammed the core down, emitting a flash of blue light.

()

Todd's left arm inflated at an extremely rapid rate, tearing off the left sleeve of his blue sweatshirt, only leaving his left T-shirt's sleeve, and the rest of his body followed suit, before his eye turned bright yellow, as well as his shirt fusing with his sweater fusing to his skin, tinting it blue, with his T-Shirts black accents fusing to his skin as well, with red shells on the backs of his hands, legs, and his back. His mouth became extremely wide, and his teeth became pointed. The Omnitrix symbol was on his chest, and Todd now began rolling as a red and black ball, before uncurling, and cracking his knuckles.

()

The light faded, and Todd quickly found himself hurtling rapidly towards the pavement. He let out an unusually deep scream, and hit the pavement, kicking up an extremely large cloud of dust, causing several people to jump out of the way. Onlookers around the crater began murmuring in confusion, and asking the people who were almost crushed if they were okay.

"Oww…" Todd groaned as the dust settled. "I'm gonna feel that in the morning… All 6 stories of it…"

As people saw Todd, now an alien staggering out of the dust, they began yelling, ad throwing things at him, before scampering away. One of them even threw a trashcan at him, which sank into his blubbery body, before being bounced directly back at the girl who threw it, who ducked in the nick of time, before clumsily running away from him.

"Yeah, I guess I probably look like I wanna eat them." Todd paused. "I should probably count how many aliens I actually have at my disposal sometime... Wait, what? Jeez, that fall must have hit me in the head harder than I thought."

Todd noticed that the shells on his back, while not removable, were capable of shifting up and down, as if they could move while the rest of his body could stay stationary.

"My exoskeleton must be some kind of motor, huh?" Todd smiled. "Okay, than I'm gonna call this guy… Roly Poly!" Todd grinned, but the grin faded. "Actually… No. I'll work on that." Todd curled himself into a ball, and took off down the street.

Due to the slits in the shell, and how fast it was rotating, he could practically see through them, and got an extremely good view of where he was going, so as to not total a million cars while trying to survey the city. Unfortunately, most of the drivers weren't used to seeing a giant red ball barreling at them at about 70 miles-per-hour, so most of them swerved out of the way anyways, despite Todd's chivalry.

A certain cab driver yelped as he saw Todd coming at him, and swerved to the left, even though he was going over a bridge. The cab smashed through the barrier of the bridge, and hung over the ocean below, slowly inching closer, and closer to the, (Honestly, WAY too shallow.) ocean below. Todd stopped, and uncurled himself in the street, which caused almost every car on the bridge to stop abruptly, and the drivers to get out.

… ALMOST every car. About 10 extra cars swerved out of the way too, and found themselves either in a wreck, or also hanging off of the bridge, as well, Todd looked around, gulped, and ran over to the first car to crash through the barrier.

"Don't worry!" Todd yelled, before grabbing onto the car's bumper, and trying to pull it up. "I've got you! … Uh… C-could you, like, try and crawl into the back seat? I… I can't pull this thing up, not in time, at least!"

The cab driver, and his passenger both sat in the front seat, refusing to move, giving Todd one mean death stare. Todd rolled his eyes, somehow, and then, he saw a rolled-up cable with a hook attached to the end of it, and got an idea. He grabbed the end of it, and rolled back into a ball.

"Come on…!" Todd said, trying to motivate himself. "Come… ON!"

The car began to move up, before several of it's pipes burst, causing it practically fly back up, into the air a few feet, before landing on the ground, and it's left tires both fell out. Todd uncurled, and sighed, before realizing he forgot about the other cars.

"Oh, NO!" He yelled, and ran at each of the cars, before the one he was running towards fell off, over the edge, and into the water, until it… Didn't? "What the…?" Todd asked, confused.

Yes, the car that was hurtling towards it's doom, just moments ago, vanished into thin air, seconds before it hit the shore. Todd ignored this, and rolled towards the other car, but as soon as he curled up, every single other car began falling as well, and was teleported away, all except one, right next to him. Todd just barely managed to grab on to this car, just as it was falling, but there was no cable for him to grab, and the momentum was to great. Todd fell down into the sea with the car, and then, there was one last teleportation.

()

Todd, and the car both fell into a large, veiny room, with a huge pile of other cars, as well. While the car landed perfectly at the top of the pile, Todd fell down the pile, and landed on his head, before falling over onto his back.

"Ouch… I'm only 13, and I'm already getting too old for this…"

The drivers of the car opened their doors, meekly, and began looking around at their surroundings. The room was deep green, with yellow veins snaking their way around the entire room. There was singlelarge door, but it had no handle. The drivers all looked at Todd, and their eyes narrowed, with pure hatred, yet fear at the same time.

"You… You big, burnt marshmallow-lookin' creep! You trapped us here, didn't you?!" One of the cab drivers accused.

"Huh?" Todd gasped, surprised. "N-no, I-I didn't tr-!"

"You're gonna EAT us?! Aren't you? You're gonna have us for LUNCH!" Another driver exclaimed.

"Guys, I'm serious!" Todd tried to explain.

"Lunch?" Another man scoffed, holding a child's hand. "More like an after-dinner snack." The child giggled at his joke.

"Listen!" Todd shouted, and everybody stopped to listen. "If I WAS gonna eat you guys, or whatever, why would I be in here, TOO?!"

"Well, you're the monster!" A woman with ginger hair wrapped into pigtails shot back. "You tell us!"

"Look, alright, I'm a hero, okay?!" Todd tried to say, exacerbated. "I tried to help you guys, but your cars got teleported to some… Plant… Thing, and so did I!"

"So, you're sayin', you wanna bust us OUT of someplace you didn't even know existed a minute ago?!"

"Uh…" Todd paused. "I mean, yeah, I guess so, but-"

"Great, so you're not gonna eat us, you're just stupid?!"

Todd sighed, and leaned into the drivers, as if he was hiding information from some other being. "Listen, alright, I'm a guy who can turn into things... You know, like a superhero, okay?"

"Sheesh." One of the drivers rolled her eyes. "Okay, hero, what's your name, then?"

"Uh…" Todd thought, then remembered a book he'd found on Japanese words, specifically, the word for 'fuse.' "Let's say 'Hyuzu?' "

They stared at him. "Is… Is that even a name?"

"It's my codename. You guys asked, didn't you?"

"Whatever." They scoffed unimpressed.

Todd breathed a sigh of belief. They believed him, at least, for now, though who knows what he would do when he needed to turn back. He did wonder how Matheo would take needing to be called 'Besuto,' (Optimal) Or how Kate would take 'Yunaiteddo'(Unity), but for now, the codename worked.

"So, how do we get out of here, Hero?" The child asked, who had been kicking at Todd's ankle for the last 2 minutes.

"Good question… Hey, maybe I could… Could…" Todd stared at the kid. "Would you cut that out, uh… James?"

"Ralph." The kid stuck his tongue out at him, before staring at Todd. "Hey, how do you 'turn into things?' I wanna do that."

"Uh…" Todd changed the subject. "Like I was sayin,' I'm gonna try and break down that door by rolling through it, okay?"

"Wooah." The kid said, awestruck. "You can DO that?"

"Just watch." Todd curled up, and rolled as fast as he could towards the door, and hit it, but it had no effect. "YOUCH!"

He was sent back flying to a part of the floor that had a small white 'X' on it. There was a trap door there, which opened, and sent Todd falling into a dark pit, screaming 'Not again!' The door closed behind him, and Todd found himself covered by a large pile of dust, when a familiar beeping sound began ticking before there was a large flash of yellow light, turning Todd back to normal.

"Good… Timing…" Todd muttered, before he looked up.

He saw 2 dog-like creatures, with golden fur, 6 eyes, hands where paws should be, about 5 times the size of Todd, and growling angrily at him.

"Or not!" Todd yelled, and dived away from them.

Several lights turned on, to reveal an arena around him, with millions of aliens who were leaning forwards in their seats, all cheering 2 names, and were throwing tiny slabs of meat at Todd, making the creatures chase hungrily after him. Todd screamed, and tried to pry the meat off of him, but it was stuck to his skin.

"What's going on?!" Todd cried, before he felt the ground shift. "Oh, what now?!"

He looked down to see that the around the floor, there was a deep, deep pit with lava directly at the bottom, and the platform he was using to fight was growing extremely quickly. The dog-things hadn't seemed to notice, though.

"Come on, you stupid thing!" Todd cried, and began tapping, slapping, and banging his Splicatrix into the ground. "Work! Please, just work!"

"Scan mode, activated." The Splicatrix said, suddenly. "Please host device toward the desired subject."

"Okay…" Todd said, pointing the Splicatrix at the dog-thing on his left. "Here goes…"

There was a beam of yellow light, which projected outwards, and scanned the creature from top to bottom, despite the fact it was about 30 inches away, and the Splicatrix beeped blue to confirm the scan was complete.

"Scan complete. New DNA acquired."

"Alright!" Todd shouted, then glared at the Dog-Things, who were aggravated thanks to Todd's scan. "The predator's about to get a taste of his own medicine!"

Todd activated his Splicatrix, and selected the new sample, before slamming the core down, emitting a flash of blue light.

()

The Splicatrix glowed bright, before it covered Todd's entire arm in black and blue fur, and mutating Todd's hand so that it only had 3 fingers on it. 2 large, muscular tails shot out of his hips, and a snout grew rapidly from his nose and mouth. Todd's pupils dilated outwards, practically consuming the white in his eyes, and two ears appeared on the top of his head. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his collarbone, and he gave a loud howl.

()

The light faded, and Todd emerged from it, cracking his knuckles. Unlike the two dogs before him, Todd was standing on 2 legs, and wearing clothes. Todd's 2 tails began to turn rapidly, like helicopter blades, and he jumped into the air. The dogs stared at him, in confusion, before Todd dropped from the sky, and his mouth split into four pieces, and sent sonic waves into the Dog-Things, sending one to the edge, barely managing to pull himself out.

"Oh, wow!" Todd smirked. "You guys should hit the gym more often… As for me, I think I'm gonna call this guy… BlitzMouth. Yeah, I like that."

The dog that was almost sent into the lava got up, and began charging at BlitzMouth, and attempted to bite him, but BlitzMouth's right arm grew 3 metal plates that acted as a shield against the dog-thing's bite. BlitzMouth reopened his mouth, unleashed another sonic howl, sending the dog over the edge, and into the lava, before the dog was teleported away.

"Hey!" One of the crowd members cheered. "The fresh meat's actually kicking their tails!"

The crowd began cheering for BlitzMouth, and throwing unfinished food at the other dog-thing, who realized that BlitzMouth had disappeared. He looked around in confusion, before he looked up, and saw BlitzMouth falling from the sky, and smacked the dog-thing with his metal shield, sending him over the edge, too.

An alien in a black-and-white costume resembling a referee came over to BlitzMouth via a metal bridge, and held up his hand. "And the victor is… BLITZMOUTH!"

"Yeah!" BlitzMouth shouted, holding up his other hand. "I sure kicked their cans, huh?"

The referee shushed him. "Kid. Don't talk. You're gonna ruin the moment."

()

"And these are the Fighter's quarters, kid." A large alien in a golden hover device, with a top hat, said, leading Todd down a hallway. "You'll be staying here until further notice."

"And… How long is that?" Todd asked, uncertain.

"Well, until you lose a fight."

"Then… I get to leave…?"

"HA!" The Top-Hat Alien laughed in his face. "No, you continue fighting until you get better. You don't get to LEAVE, kid."

"But, I have to! Those gu- … Uh… Humans, with the taxis, they need to get home, they can't fight!"

The Alien smirked. "Well, it'll make the show all the more interesting when they get mauled, then."

Todd gasped. "No way! You can't be serious!"

"Serious as a shark attack, kiddo. Er… That's something they say on Earth, right?"

Todd narrowed his eyes, and held up his Splicatrix. "You ain't just gonna keep us here forever and get those people popped like bubble wrap. Not if I've got anything to say about it."

"Oh… Really?" The Top-Hat Alien hit a green button on the side of his hover-er, and a giant chaingun lowered from it. "Well you won't have a say in anything, not when I'm through with you!"

Todd gasped, and jumped into the Fighter's Quarters, and activated his Splicatrix. Todd turned it to the first Alien he saw, and slammed down the core, emitting a flash of blue light.

()

The Splicatrix became absorbed in Todd's arms, which were now massive, and grey. The Omnitrix symbol appeared on Todd's back, as well, and Todd's head became grey as well. His eyes were large, and green, with horizontal black pupils, and pointed teeth. Todd's clothes became a black-and-blue jumpsuit, with the Hands, and feet exposed. Todd shrunk down to about half-a-foot, and crouched in a vigilant pose.

()

"GREY… Matter… Oh boy." Todd gulped, looking at himself as the light faded. "I'm way too small for-!"

The alien came through the doorway, and looked around the room, but couldn't find him anywhere. He squinted to look around, but received a message from his boss, and stopped looking momentarily. Grey Matter breathed a sigh of relief, and stopped hiding behind the bed, and climbed onto the wall, then the ceiling, then landed on the top of the alien's Top-Hat. Grey Matter could now hear the conversation, too.

"Listen, Jarnet, if you don't find that kid with the watch, I will. That thing could go for TRILLIONS if you sold it to the right guy! … Actually, why stop there? I could use it to pull off the heist of the century! I could enslave the GALAXY with that thing if I used it right!"

"Uh, yeah, okay boss, but why are you telling me this?"

The phone practically exploded with anger at this interruption. "IT'S CODE YOU FOOL! CODE 'FOR GET ME THAT DEVICE, OR I'LL HAVE YOU SKINNED ALIVE,' DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

"Ah!" Jarnet exclaimed, almost dropping it. "Y-y-y-yes, sir! Right away, s-sir!"

The call ended, and Grey Matter saw his chance. He jumped off of the hat, and grabbed the phone, tackling it to the ground, and smashing it to pieces. Jarnet wailed in dismay, and began fuming.

"YOU!" He exclaimed in anger. "Oh, I'll get you, you little-!"

"Okay, alright!" Grey Matter interrupted. "You want the watch, or your cranky boss is gonna gut you, I know!"

Jarnet paused. "Yeah… So does that mean we've reached… An understanding? Will you take it off and give it to me?"

Grey Matter shook his head. "It doesn't come off. But think about this. Do you really think your boss WOULDN'T skin you if you DID get a hold of my Splicatrix?"

"I… Actually, I think he'd just forget about me!"

"Yeah!" Grey Matter agreed. "I mean, think about it like this: Even if he comes after you, so what? The galaxy's pretty big, it can't be too hard to avoid the guy! And you know what? Who cares if cranky there doesn't get what he's after, right?"

"I guess you're right… But I'd have to shut down the whole intergalactic gladiator thing if I didn't want him to find me… That's my only real source of income."

"You can just start another one, right?"

"No, Of course-" Jarnet stopped. "Actually, with the funds raised from this one… And if I were to sell the joint… Yeah, I could make that work!"

"Soo, what are you waiting for?"

"Well, nothing!" Jarnet grinned. "Thank you so much! ... If I'm being honest, I really hated working for that guy, and you got me to realize that, little guy… Is there anything I can do to repay you?

"Well…" Grey Matter twiddled his thumbs. "Me and my mates are gonna need a way to get home."

"Teleporters, got it!"

"I guess the cars are broken, so they might not need to go back."

Jarnet shrugged. "Either way."

"Hey, one other question." Grey Matter said. "Why did you abduct those people, AND their cars?"

"Well, they were falling from a bridge." Jarnet answered. "And they had big metal vehicles. I thought they might be interesting, hardcore fighters… Guess I was wrong."

Grey Matter snickered. "Yeah, Definitely."

()

Todd was teleported personally back to Earth, and had just enough time to get away from the scene before the car drivers got back to see him in human form, and activated his Splicatrix in the shadows, grinning at his work.

()

The next day, Matheo and Kate were watching the news, and the news-lady began talking about the rumors of a new shape-shifting hero named 'Hyuzu,' Who saved a group of Car drivers, Taxi drivers, and a few kids from an alien gladiator ring, then burst out laughing at what she was reading. Kate and Matheo both turned to Todd.

"Really? That's your name?" Kate asked in disbelief.

"Why would you name yourself in Japanese?" Matheo also asked.

"It means 'fuse.' " Todd said, dismissively. "Speaking of which… I kind of figured out your guys' names in advance, too."

"…No." Matheo said, Sternly. "I will not be called 'Besuto.' "

"But… But the thing…" Todd said, heartbroken.

"No way." Matheo said, shaking his head. "Never."


	5. O5: The Reign of Archius!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matheo chases after his siblings into an underground cavern, and must defeat the ancient Archius, as well as figure out the mystery of his broken lock!

Matheo Harrison was currently locked away in his lab, making every possible precaution that nobody could ever enter… Unless, he somehow hit his head so hard, he let those 2 nitwits in, against his will. No, with his new, state-of-the-art security system, a lock on the door, they would never, EVER-!

"Hiya!" Kate shouted, as Todd, now in some kind of computer-alien-form finished turning himself into the door, so he could open it. "What's up?"

"You two!?" Matheo exploded with rage. "How… No, nevermind, I know HOW you violated my privacy. But why?!"

"We just wanted to check up on our favorite brother!" Todd said, in a stupid digital voice. "No need to have a conniption, or anything."

Todd was slightly taller than normal, and sort of lobby. His legs were stubby, now, and his bottom half was completely blue, while the top half was black with blue circuitry running around it, and a large blue circle that glowed when he spoke, in place of his mouth, and the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.

"Oh, really?" Matheo asked, unimpressed. "And what do you call that stupid thing? Do you call it StupidGuy? You should call it that."

"Dude!" Todd exclaimed, hurt. "I call him Upgrade…"

"Whatever." Matheo grumbled. "Just get outta my lab. NOW."

"Yo, there's, like, a crime going on outside, though. We kinda need the brawns, you know?" Kate asked.

Matheo turned around, and stared. "Wait, I thought Kate was the brawn. I'm supposed to be the brains, right?"

"I knew Matheo was the brains!" Todd cheered.

"Is… Is that really a cause for celebration?" Kate asked, before shaking her head. "What we're saying is, we could use your help, you know?"

Matheo glared at them. "Forget it. Not happening. Scram."

Todd's eyes narrowed. "Hey, dude! Don't talk to us like that!"

Kate put her hand on Todd's shoulder, and motioned her head towards the door. Todd sighed, and they both exited, leaving the door hanging wide open.

"Hey!" Matheo yelled. "Close the door, will you?!"

Nobody answered, so Matheo was forced to get up and close it himself, cursing under his breath, but the lock had been removed, probably by Todd.

"EFF!" Matheo griped. "That was my only lock! It cost 20 bucks!"

Todd did have a habit of swiping things that looked cool to him, and Matheo exploding at him probably only provoked that stupid desire of his even more. Matheo groaned loudly, and pushed his window open, before activating his Optitrix, and turning it to an alien whose feet were attached to a board with thrusters on the back of it.

"Stupid Todd!" Matheo spat. "He's gonna pay for this, literally."

Matheo raised his hand in the air, and brought it down onto the Optitrix's core, emitting a bright flash of red light.

()

The Optitrix sank into Matheo's arm, before coating it over with a golden surface, and causing his fingers to recede back into his arms as well. Matheo's stomach began to gurgle, and move violently, before 2 extra hands shot out of it. His legs became fused to a large, red-and-black hoverboard, with an Omnitrix Symbol on the thruster at the back. Matheo's face also became a large mouth, with his eyeballs being moved to his earlobes. He let out a feral cry, and beat his chest with his fingerless arms.

()

"Okay, new alien, huh?" Matheo mused. "I guess we'll call this one 'GoldenGuy,' And if Todd doesn't like it, I don't care."

GoldenGuy's hoverboard activated, and he flew out of the lab's window. GoldenGuy flew along the neighborhood's roads, but had no luck finding his troublesome twins.

"Geez. Might've been more helpful if I at least had those two tell me where they went."

GoldenGuy flew outside of the neighborhood, hoping he'd have more luck there, before a large cluster of rocks in the shape of a tentacle shot out of the ground, and wrapped itself around GoldenGuy, and began rapidly dragging him into the earth.

"HEY!?" GoldenGuy shouted, trying to wiggle free. "What's… What's the big idea?!"

There was no response, as it continued to pull him closer, into the hole that it appeared from. Matheo struggled desperately to escape, but only had one hand free. Suddenly, he got an idea. If Todd fused alien DNA together when he poked the Omnitrix symbol, maybe Matheo could do the same. He quickly tried to swing the end of his overboard towards his left hand.

"Come on…" Matheo grunted, trying to activate the symbol. "Almost… GOT IT!" He exclaimed, slamming his hand onto the symbol, and emitting a large flash of red light.

()

Matheo's Omnitrix symbol grew 4 spikes, resembling an 'X.' Matheo's four arms both fused into two, which were extremely large, and muscular. His eyes became steel balls, as well, and the inside of his mouth went from a deep red to a light green, and his teeth became sharp, and pointed, and his golden skin transformed into stainless steel, and finally, two machine guns popped out of his hoverboard. Optimized GoldGuy grinned, showing off his teeth.

()

"Huh… This doesn't look like a fusion…" Optimized GoldenGuy mused for a few seconds, before the tentacle reached the ground and tried to pull him into the sinkhole it came from. "HEY!" He yelled. "Cut… That… OUT!'

As he finished these words, Optimized GoldenGuy accidentally activated a 'turbo-boost' function on his hoverboard, and a blue, chemical fire began exploding out of his thrusters, burning the tentacle to the point where it was forced to recoil from the pain, allowing Optimized GoldenGuy to escape, still thinking about this new transformation.

"OH!" He exclaimed. "It must be some kind of evolved form of the original GoldenGuy! That's why it's called the OPTI-trix! … Man, I feel really stupid right now."

GoldenGuy heard the ground rumbling below him, and looked over the edge of his hoverboard, to see a dozen more of the earth-tentacles, all shooting directly at him. He yelped, and tried to activate the turbo-boost function again, but his hoverboard was currently on cool down. GoldenGuy sighed, before flying away at his regular speed.

"Stupid alien!" He shouted, trying to dodge the much more aggressive tentacles.

GoldenGuy circled around the tentacles, and turned his board's thrusters diagonally, so that the burn from the thrusters began cutting into them, but it had no effect on them. As a last-ditch effort, GoldenGuy turned off his hoverboard, and fell onto one of the tentacles, and revealed his teeth, and bit into it, tearing a hole in it's armor, before punching the inside of the tentacle with his fingerless hand, causing it to fall apart instantly.

"OH, CRAP!" GoldenGuy yelled, as he fell face-first into the ground. "Okay, whatever." He grumbled, getting back up. "I can take these guys."

Then, his Omnitrix symbol began to beep, and flash yellow, and GoldenGuy chuckled nervously, before looking around, then diving into a nearby shed. There was a flash of yellow, and Matheo was back to human form.

"Stupid rock tentacle, non-tax-paying… THING!" Matheo whined, and stomped his foot on the floor.

He looked out the window, and watched the tentacles look around for him for a few minutes, then finally sink into the ground, slowly. Matheo shook his head. He was going through all of this for just a stupid lock… A lock, which was directly in front of him, broken in half, and lying on the floor. Matheo knelt down, and stared at it.

"No doubt about it." He whispered. "That's… That's my lock."

Matheo looked around, and put the lock in his pocket. A million questions were swirling around in his mind, right now. Mainly, what would have been strong enough to snap something like this in half? The lock was made of re-inforced titanium, which, by the way, was NOT cheap. But it didn't matter. Todd and Kate both had those Omnitrix's too, now, so it wasn't like they couldn't defend themselves. And hey, Matheo wanted some alone time, so now he'd finally get it, away from those annoying lunatics.

"All I've gotta do is go home. That's it." He said to himself, shakily. "Easy. Just let the two dopey 'heroes' figure it out."

Then, suddenly, Matheo heard it. A cry for help, which sounded young, not like Todd, or Kate, but… A kid. Maybe even a Toddler, coming from under the floorboards. He wasn't even saying anything, just yelling, loud enough for Matheo to hear it, even from above ground. Matheo didn't think about anything for a few seconds. He must have been in the shed long enough for his Optitrix to recharge, because he activated it immediately, and slammed down the core, emitting a bright, red light.

()

The Optitrix sent out metallic tentacles, that layer themselves around Matheo's arm. His fingers sank into his hands, and his hands themselves grew extremely long, both resembling halves of a baseball bat. His nose and mouth both molted into his face, while his eyes multiplied into six, and became dark, black holes. A cap appeared on his head, with the Omnitrix symbol on it, and he breathed a gust of wind out of his eyeholes.

()

Matheo looked down directly at the floor, and shot out a dozen hard, grey balls at it, blowing a giant hole in the floorboards, and the actual ground too. Matheo jumped into the hole, and slid down it, avoiding the stalactites racing at him. He finished with a frontflip out of the hole, landing on a rickety wooden bridge.

"ARGH!" The same voice screamed from behind him. "It's another monster!"

Matheo turned around, and saw a kid whos about 6, and tied to a wooden pole, and kicking his feet. He was wearing a striped yellow and red T-shirt, and black shorts, with messy hair.

"Hey, look, kid." Matheo said, putting his hands up. "I'm not a monster, alright?"

"...Are you sure about that? You look like one."

"Ugh." Matheo groaned. "Look, if I untie you, will you quit calling me that?"

"Uh…" The kid looked at him funny. "I guess. Are you gonna untie everybody else down here, too?"

"...What?" Matheo asked, confused, before he looked to his left, and saw at least 3 dozen people. "Oh. Yeah, sure."

Matheo leaned over, and tried to untie the ropes that were holding the kid in place, but couldn't, since his fingers were gone. He gulped, and thought for a second. He closed 5 of his eye-holes, except for the middle-left one, and shot out a slimy, grey ball, which split the wooden stake in half. The kid wiggle around, and eventually climbed out of the ropes, and jumped in front of Matheo.

"You almost killed me, man!"

"Uh…" Matheo paused. "...Well, I mean, I didn't, so, we're all good here, right?"

"I guess." The kid said. "My name's Jamie, by the way. What's yours, mister?"

"Uh… Home-Run-Guy."

"What kind of name is THAT?!" Jamie shouted in bewilderment.

"Look, I've got people to untie, OK? So could you just-?"

"You know what your name SHOULD be?" Jamie continued. "It SHOULD be… 'The Baller…' OOH, or 'Swiss Cheese.' OOH, OOH! Or FaceBall!"

"FINE!" Matheo shouted. "MY NAME IS 'FACEBALL!' Are you HAPPY, NOW?!"

FaceBall and Jamie both paused, as Faceball's yelling seemed to reverb around the entirety of the cave, and a roar sounded from the other side of the cave. Faceball yelped and jumped into the air, shooting balls in every direction around him, splitting every wooden stake in half in the span of a few seconds. Everybody who was tied up cheered briefly, before seeing the creature drawing closer, and started climbing out of the hole FaceBall made in the floor.

"Hey, FaceBall." Jamie said, tugging on his sleeve. "Aren't you gonna go?"

"... Not yet, kid." FaceBall groaned, glaring at the shadows that were flying towards them. "I've gotta take down whatever that thing is, before it… Y'know, recaptures you."

Jamie nodded, and climbed up the hole with everyone else. FaceBall looked up, and shot all 6 balls into the air at the same time. They fused into a gigantic glowing projectile, and began falling. FaceBall put his hands together, which fused together to become a giant metal bat, which he sent flying into the roof of the cave.

"Bullseye." He smirked.

As the ceiling exploded, and boulders began falling, FaceBall jumped off of the platform, onto a falling boulder, then onto another. Meanwhile, directly above the explosion, most of the boulders were forming a barricade, which would hopefully keep the monster away from the hole. The problem is that if FaceBall didn't make it in time, he wouldn't be able to get TO the monster. After a few more boulders he was able to narrowly dive through the last empty space, and made it to the other side.

"Matheo! Watch out!" He heard Kate yell, as he saw a giant, dragon-like beast go flying towards him.

FaceBall yelled, and before he knew what he was doing, fused his hands together again, and smacked the dragon with enough force to send it in the complete opposite direction, smacking face-first onto the tough cave ceiling.

"Close one, huh, bro?" Todd asked, as BlitzMouth. "This guy's no joke, that's for sure."

"You guys, why didn't you help the hostages?!" FaceBall sputtered, confused.

"Duh." Todd replied, rolling his eyes. "We can't help hostages if they've been eaten."

"What he means is, we're gonna get to it after we take care of this dragon dude." Kate said, landing on the ground.

"Well." FaceBall said, puffing out his chest. "You don't need to anymore, cuz I took care of the hostages!"

Todd and Kate both stared at him, surprised. "You're… You're joking, right?"

"Nope."

Todd grinned. "Well, whaddya know. Looks like even YOU'VE got a little hero in you, too!"

"Oh, shaddup." FaceBall sighed. "Anyways… Hey, where'd the dragon go… I thought he was stuck in here."

"Oh he is, he's just cloaked." Kate explained.

"...What'd you just say?" FaceBall asked, staring daggers at them.

"Did… Did you misunderstand that? She said it in English, y'know." Todd joked.

Suddenly, the room filled with flames, while both Kate and Todd flew away to avoid them, FaceBall used his metal skin to his advantage, and ran directly threw it, and punching the dragon squarely between the eyes, before he shot 6 balls directly into it's face, which all exploded on impact.

"Take that, you overgrown chameleon!" FaceBall taunted, backflipping off it's snout before the dragon swiped at him.

-SILENCE, FOOL!- The dragon 'said.'

Everybody stopped, and stared at him. The dragon stared back at all of them. Somehow, it was speaking without it's mouth moving.

"Did… Did the dragon just talk?" Todd asked, bewildered.

-YES I CAN TALK. DON'T BE SO SURPRISED.-

"Yeah, okay." Kate groaned. "But, literally, who cares?!"

-YOU SHOULD CARE, MORTALS. I AM ARCHIUS, THE DRAGON PRINCE. AND I HAVE RETURNED TO EARTH TO FINALLY DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE, ONCE AND FOR ALL!-

Several more Earth-Tentacles reached down from the ceiling, and grabbed them, squeezing their bodies extremely tightly.

-AND NOW, YOU WILL BECOME THE FIRST TARGETS, AS I POP YOU OPEN!-

"Not… Happening…" FaceBall grunted, and glared at the tentacles holding both Todd and Kate. "Come on, just need to be precise…"

FaceBall squinted all of his left eye-holes closed, and shot three balls out, each one cutting a different tentacle in half, and causing them all to fall apart. The triplets fell onto the ground, and stared at Archius.

-DO YOU TRULY BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DEFEAT ME?! YOU PUNY HUMANS!?-

"Anytime you guys wanna make a plan…" Kate whispered, concerned.

"Oh, I've gotta plan. Kate, when he shoots tentacle at me, I need you to cut it in half."

"Why?"

"No time to explain!"

-I'LL BEGIN WITH YOUR DEMISE, ARCHER!- Archius roared, and shot an Earth Tentacle at FaceBall.

Kate nodded, and transformed her arm into a diamond blade, before cutting off the end of tentacle. Archius winced. Matheo smirked, and shot a single ball into the purple of the tentacle, and it traveled all throughout the tentacle. Archius suddenly began screaming, and fell over in pain. The sound of his shouting made the cave begin to rumble, and cave in on itself.

"What did you do?!" Todd asked, running over to a metal door, and turning the handle.

"Simple." Matheo shrugged. "If Archius is controlling the earth through magic, then he would have felt a projectile forcing itself through the essence of his magic. In short, I hit his spell, and he felt that, spiritually."

"Huh." Kate thought. "Well, you're the brains for a reason."

"But I'm still cool, right?"

"Guys!" Todd interrupted. "It's open, let's GO!"

The triplets ran through the metal hallway, and climbed up the ladder, as the cave-in forced the tube around them to get smaller, and smaller.

"Go, go go!" Todd shouted, practically flying up the ladder.

"Oh, yeah, because I'm just on a leisurely stroll over here!" Matheo shouted, as a hole split open in the tube, causing dirt to pour down, into their escape route.

"We're almost there!" Kate yelled, pointing to the light up above.

Suddenly, Matheo's Omnitrix began beeping, and he turned back to human. Due to his new proportions, he wasn't hanging onto the ladder, and began to fall down into the tube, before kate grabbed his arm, and swung him back to the ladder.

"Gotcha!" She shouted.

"...Thanks." Matheo said, breathlessly, still climbing. "I thought you'd… I thought you'd let me fall!"

"Why?"

"I guess… I guess it just made sense in the moment."

"Whatever." Kate said. "Just don't fall again, okay?"

A few seconds later, the twins reached the top of the ladder, and opened a large metal trapdoor, labeled 'feeding grounds.' as the triplets finally returned to the daylight, Todd's Omnitrix symbol flashed yellow, and he transformed back to human.

"Well, I'm glad that all worked out in the end, right, guys?"

"Hey, I've got a question, you guys." Matheo mused. "So… How'd you end up down there in the first place?"

"Well, we got bored of looking around, until we got attacked by these huge tentacles, and then followed it down through that hatch over there, and started fighting the dragon dude." Todd explained.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Kate agreed.

"Okay…" Matheo nodded. "One last question, Todd. What happened to my LOCK?"

"Huh?" Todd asked, confused. "You mean the lock on your lab? Isn't it still there?"

Matheo's eyes narrowed. "Don't try and pull THAT stunt, Todd. I know you took it."

"I'm serious, dude."

"Kate, help me out here." Matheo asked, desperately.

"Well, as much as I'd like to see Todd get chewed out… I don't wanna see it happen for something he didn't DO."

Matheo was stunned. That means Todd really DIDN'T take the lock.

"But… But if you didn't, then who DID?" Matheo asked, before he looked down at the broken lock, and gulped.

He knew exactly who took it.


	6. O6: No Cats Allowed!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd and Kate must defeat Lucky Girl, a comic character come to life, who has broken into their school to steal the mysterious 'Elektra Emerald!'

Kate Harrison would almost definitely describe herself as a girl who had it all. That is, 2 days ago. Because ever since then, her best-est, greatest-est friend ever, Lebana Worpice, broke up with her boyfriend. And, BOY, was it violent. Lebana wouldn't stop ranting about how terrible her boyfriend, Jacob, was to her, and yelling stories about how he would force her to wear dresses 3 sizes too small, because HE said so, and SHE had no say in anything, at all.

"… And THEN, his mom came in!" Lebana told Kate. "And SHE said, 'Oh, Jakie, you lil' smoochie! What is this, your 5th girlfriend this month?' "

"No way." Kate said, immersed completely. "What'd he say?"

"You'll never guess, Katie. He said: 'Nah, mama, this is my 8th.' Can you believe him?! He was just so open about how much of a PIG he is!"

"Man…" Kate chuckled. "I am NEVER gonna get a boyfriend."

"If all boys are like that, then yeah, count me in."

"You know, we get along better together with each other than with any boy…" Kate joked. "Maybe, we should just date each other."

"Uh, yeah, no thanks." Lebana laughed. "We know each other too well!"

"Yeah." Kate suddenly felt a lump form in her throat. "Uh… Leb, if… Y'know… Look, what if I was like… What if there was some side of me, that you never even KNEW about?"

"Omigosh." Lebana sat up from her seat. "Are you trying to say that you're 'Yunai?' … Is my best friend a superhero?!"

"Wha-a-at…?" Kate asked, her eyes practically bulging out of her head. "N-no… Uh, who's 'Yunai?' "

Kate was part of the currently almost-official team of superheroes unofficially known as the Omni-Triplets, along with her 2 brothers. They each had somewhat mangled Japanese names, all of which Todd had come up with about a week ago, while he was talking with a group of cab drivers inside of some space gladiator ring. Kate's name was supposed to mean 'Unity,' since she wielded the 'Unitrix.' (She knew this by getting Matheo to bring up her Unitrix's GUI, and reading it's name.) The problem is, Kate hadn't even finished her costume yet, and had only been referenced by name. By Todd. In a single interview. Yesterday. It was pretty much impossible for Lebana to have known that, but yet, here they were.

"How did you know that?" Kate asked, beginning to break into a light sweat.

"DUH!" Lebana said, ecstatic. "She's only the latest member of the Japanese superhero team, which I've dubbed, 'The Katachi League!' "

Kate tried to ignore how much that name would actually fit them. "Okay, but still. I mean, I love superheroes, and I've never heard of this 'Yunai' Gal. Are you sure she's not a hoax? Y'know, like an extra girl in the team, like, for representation, or something?"

"Jeez, Kate, you must REALLY be out of the loop. No, Yunai doesn't function Hyu, or Besu. Instead of turning completely into a monster to fight crime, SHE only transforms part of her body at a time, and combines them! It's all over the news, y'know. I'd even hazard a guess that she's the most popular member!"

Matheo would HATE to hear he was being overshadowed by a girl, especially if that girl's name was Kate Harrison, but here we are. Kate began thinking about how much of a tantrum Matheo would probably start throwing if he found out about that, and she started snickering.

"Uh, yeah." Kate sighed. "So… How about that boyfriend, huh?"

But Lebana was giving Kate a dirty look, now. "No, I think I'm done talkin' with you, especially if you think it's so funny."

"Hey, Lebana!" Kate called to her, as Lebana stood up, and left the Cafeteria. "I didn't… I wasn't laughing at YOU, I was just…"

Kate sighed. She sat down, and rubbed her forehead with her hands. Great. She'd be lucky if Lebana ever looked at her again. As if things couldn't get any worse, Kate spotted her brother, Todd, who was walking towards her table. Kate scooched over begrudgingly, and Todd sat next to her.

"Soo…" Todd said, biting into his sandwich. "You got any clue what's up with Matheo? He's been acting weird ever since that whole 'lock' thing the other day."

"… No, I don't." Kate answered, confused. "Why, should I know?"

"Well, ever since then, he hasn't come out of his room. I just hope he's… You know, alright."

"Uh-huh." Kate agreed. "I guess that's a pretty good reason to be concerned. Also, he IS Matheo. I guess that kid can get himself into trouble, no matter the scenario."

"Yeah. I mean, I've even tried everything to get him out. I knocked on his door, I upgraded his door, and opened it, and even looked around, and I couldn't find him ANYWHERE."

"Oh… Well, I guess that's step 1 outta the way."

"Yeah. Come on, we should probably check out his room a bit more."

"… Alright."

Todd stood up, before turning back to look at Kate. "Hey, is something wrong?"

"Huh? Nah, it's just… You know what, it's nothing."

Kate stood up, and both she and Todd walked out of the cafeteria. School had been over for about 36 minutes, so the halls were practically empty, except for the wayward student wandering down the hall. Kate assumed she wouldn't run into any of her friends while she was walking down the hall, but she definitely wasn't expecting what happened next. Her head began to throb rapidly, a little to the left side of her head. She hardly understood what was happening, but all the same, she tackled Todd to the ground.

"HEY!" Todd shouted. "Get off me!"

The wall in front of them exploded, sending debris flying all over the hallway, and from the smoke emerged a feminine figure, with two ears sprouting out of the top of her head. She was wearing a black jumpsuit, and a black cat mask, with purple accents. Blonde, curly hair exploded out of the back of her head. She wore a purple utility belt, with a cat's face in the middle.

"Hey, kiddies." She smirked.

"What the heck?" Kate asked, standing up. "Are you, like, a 'Lucky Girl' fan?"

Lucky Girl was a cat-themed superhero show that had been running for about 8 years now, and it was probably the biggest superhero show on TV. EVERYONE watched it, even adults. Though, since it was a kid's show, nobody ever really admitted it. However, people did love to cosplay for it, since the costume was pretty easy to replicate in real life, the hardest parts being the mask, as well as the utility belt.

"Oh." The lady smirked. "I'm no fan, I'm the real deal."

"No way!" Todd shouted, starstruck. "For real?! ... You know, I'm something of a 'hero,' myself. Maybe we should hang out sometime."

"Sorry, boy." Lucky Girl replied. "I gave up the hero thing a while ago. And I'm visiting your school, because of the rumors that it's powers come from an ancient, Elektra Emerald. As I'm sure you can guess, I'm here to steal it."

"Wait!" Kate yelled. "Why?! I didn't even know you were real until a few seconds ago, but I do know one thing about you, and that's that you're a famous, awesome cat-HERO, not a cat-THIEF!"

"Well, Katie, you should check your sources…" Lucky Girl smirked. "By the way, CAT-ch."

With these words, she took a grenade out of her belt, pressed a small red button, and threw it at our heroes. She laughed, and extruded ten large, metal claws from her gloves, and started climbing on the ceiling, and into the stairway.

"Oh, that was terrible!" Todd yelled, and activated his Splicatrix, before selecting Heatblast, and slamming his core down.

()

There was a flash of blue light, and the Splicatrix sank into Todd's skin, before molten rocks began to cover his body, burning his clothes and hair off. His toes fused together, into a hook light shape, and becoming pure magma, the same going for his hands, while his head became engulfed in fire, forming a mask of rocks, with the Omnitrix symbol appearing on his chest.

()

The light faded, before HeatBlast jumped at the grenade, surrounding it with his hands, so that when it exploded, there was no effect. He smirked, and threw the pile of dust, sulfur, and wayward shrapnel behind him.

"Okay, let's go take care of that stray cat."

"Wait." Kate put her hand up. "There's something about her I can't figure out."

"DUH!" HeatBlast moaned. "She's a character from a comic book, in the real world! Of course she's got, like, a weird aura, and stuff."

"No, it's not that." Kate thought. "It's just that, before the wall exploded, I knew she was gonna come through, and I was, like, able to sense it before it happened… Or something."

"Don't get it twisted, sis." HeatBlast waved dismissively. "You probably just heard her coming."

"No, I don't… You know what, it's not important. But if something like that Elek… Whatever Emerald is in the school, it's probably in the basement."

"Then we know where that is, and she doesn't. That gives US the advantage."

"Not if you keep running your mouth for much longer." Kate morphed a slimy tube out of her back, and used it to begin flying down the hallway. "Come on!"

HeatBlast put both of his arms out, and the chunk of the floor that was underneath him lifted out of the ground, and he rode it as if it were a surfboard after Kate.

"So… I think the only entrance to the basement is in the principal's office."

Oh, okay, well then let me just throw my costume on. My backpack should be just in this next room. I'll go get it."

"Kate, we don't have time for this… I'm gonna have to go without you."

Kate looked back to HeatBlast, and gave him a thumbs up.

()

She ran up the stairs, and into the nearest classroom, and reached into the cubby, and pulled out a yellow and green sweater, as well as combat boots. Lastly, there were blue kitchen gloves, and white beanie, with purple goggles.

"Well, it's not fashionable, but it'll have to do, I guess." Yunai scratched her head. "And itchy. I'll have to fix that." She zipped up her backpack, and laid it against the wall.

She ran back to the entrance of the classroom, before the door was blown open, and Lucky Girl walked through the smoke, and glared at Yunai. Lucky Girl smirked, and pulled out a metal, electrified whip out from her utility belt, whipped the ground, and began sauntering towards Yunai.

"Where do you get this stuff?" Yunai asked, suddenly having a realization. "Hey… For an 18-year-old, you're awfully short."

Lucky Girl didn't respond, and whipped the light above Yunai, causing it to fall from the roof. Yunai yelped, and cartwheeled out of the way. After she landed, Yunai mutated her leg into a long, black coil with a bronze plug at the end, and sent it directly at Lucky Girl's whip.

"What the-?!" Lucky Girl shouted, trying to separate the whip from the coil. "What are you doing?!"

Yunai absorbed the energy from Lucky Girls whip, before mutating her arm into a pitch-black hand, with bronze, square tips at the ends. She jumped in the air, her mutated hand glowed blue, and landed an electrified punch directly to Lucky Girl's mask, causing it to dent. Lucky Girl herself was sent flying back into a row of desks behind her.

"Oh, Y'know, just offering a lil' constructive FeedBack." Yunai smirked.

Lucky Girl stood up, holding a desk in her hands, and threw it at Yunai, who slid under it, before kicking out Lucky Girl's ankles, and she tripped.

"Well, this has been fun, but I have a clueless brother to help get to a certain educational basement. See ya!" Yunai spun around, and ran out the door.

"Get back here!" Lucky Girl yelled, getting up, then sprinting after Yunai. "Our little CAT-fight isn't over!"

"I beg to differ." Yunai muttered.

She mutated her arm into an arm of golden, flowing magma, covered by red volcanic rock, then aimed it behind her, creating a wall of flame and smoke.

()

Yunai ran back down the stairs, and opened the door of the Principal's office, only to see Principal Rudy, screaming in the middle of the office, and shooting out fire-extinguishing smoke at HeatBlast, who was desperately trying to get away from him.

"Hey!" Yunai shouted.

Both Principal Rudy and HeatBlast looked at her.

"Uh… Young lady, I don't know if you should be here, maybe you should be getting back to class before this LITERAL FIRE MONSTER kills you? ... Y'know, just a thought."

"Will you cut it out?!" HeatBlast shouted, exasperated. "I ain't no monster, and I'm not trying to eat anybody!"

"THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU WANT ME TO THINK!" Principal Rudy screamed, and shot him again.

"Mr. Rudy." Yunai said, trying not to lose confidence. "I am Yunai. And this is my friend Hyu, in an a monstrous form, in order to help fight off evil!"

"HYU?!" Rudy exclaimed, and dropped the fire extinguisher immediately. "Oh, my! I'm so sorry! If I'd known, I would've-!"

"It's cool, it's cool." HeatBlast groaned, wiping the goo off of him. "Look, we need answers, alright?"

"Yes, of course! Anything at all!"

"Well, it's about the Elektra Emerald rumors. Are those true?" Yunai inquired.

"Elektra Emerald, you say…" Rudy thought. "Well, I suppose, but…"

"Bad news, Mr. man-in-suit!" A familiar voice sounded through the room, and everyone looked at the entrance, revealing Lucky Girl, who was menacingly walking towards them. "That little Emerald's all mine now!"

"Oh, sure!" Yunai grinned. "When pigs fly."

Todd uncharacteristically jumped behind a wall, and hid from the ensuing battle, but Yunai paid it no mind. She mutated her face, so that her mouth became white and green, with two wires that rode from her mouth into the Unitrix-Chip. With this amplified mouth, she was able to yell, and the soundwaves were enough to send Lucky Girl flying back through the glass door entrance. While Lucky Girl was incapacitated, Yunai heard HeatBlast trying to get her attention.

"KA- uh… I mean, YUNAI!" He yelled. "You gotta see this!"

"What?!" Yunai asked, frantically jumping over to him.

HeatBlast was turning his Omnitrix symbol, and pointed grey glyphs wired all around it. He was grinning smugly.

"This whole time, whenever I've tried to Splice alien DNA together, I couldn't control what I was fusing with… But I'm thinking, that if I really look at these little symbols scribbled on the dial, turn it to the right one, and…"

HeatBlast grinned, and slapped his hand on the Omnitrix symbol, emitting a flash of electrifying blue light.

()

HeastBlast's arms split into two, all 4 of which became extremely muscular. As well as this, he grew to about 8 feet, as well, and his eyes also split apart into 2, revealing 4 new eyes, as well. He flexed his new, muscular body.

()

"HeatBlast… And HandyMan, huh? That's obvious, HandyBlast."

"Wait, hold on…" Yunai said. "You call the big guy with four arms… 'HandyMan?' "

"Yeah… What of it?" HandyBlast asked.

"That's just really lame, dude."

"I'm not changing it, sis."

"Whatever. Let's go take care of that annoying catgirl once and for all, huh bro?"

"Couldn't agree more." HandyBlast said, cracking his knuckles.

The pair rushed over to the door, but there was giant hole in the floor, and Lucky Girl was completely missing. They both looked at each other, then back at the hole itself, before jumping down into it, and landing on the cold, slimy floor.

"Ew…" Yunai said, disgusted. "Something tells me Haggard Academy doesn't clean up the basement too often."

"Yeah. This 'Lucky Girl' isn't a very good cat if she's wading around somewhere so wet." HandyBlast observed.

"There's just something off about 'Lucky Girl' in general. The more I get to know about her, the less she seems like the character gone down a dark road in life, and more like an edgy impersonator."

HandyBlast snickered. " 'Edgy…' That's priceless, especially out of your mouth."

"Why mine?"

"Your voice is so nerdy, that's why."

"Whatever. I'd like to get off the stupid express, please." Yunai shot back. "Speaking of which, how long does this tunnel go for?"

"The tunnel ends…" They heard Lucky Girl hiss. "… When YOU do!"

HandyBlast yanked a pipe out of the wall, causing steam to fly everywhere, and swung at Lucky Girl with it, only for her to grab it, and push off of it, and delivering a kick to his face. She jumped off away from them, and threw an expandable foam bomb at them, before HandyBlast meted the foam with his flames.

"This ends now, Lucky Girl!" Yunai shouted, and ran at her.

"On the contrary, Katie!" She shouted. "This ends now!"

"Wait." Yunai stopped in her tracks. "What did you just-?"

Lucky Girl didn't waste a moment. She took out her freshly recharged electric whip, and used it to trap Yunai, electrifying her, and dropping to her knees.

"NO!" HandyBlast yelled, before raising his hands in the air, smashing the ground open, tearing a chunk of concrete out of the ground, and threw it at Lucky Girl, hitting her so hard, that she tumbled away, into a pile of rocks. "Yunai! Are you okay?!"

"It's cool, Todd." Yunai said, weakly. "I'm gonna make it. Just gimme a sec."

The rock pile behind them began to move, and Lucky Girl raised out of it, her mask now torn in half, and laying, battered on the ground. She turned around, and stared at HandyBlast, and Yunai, now with a fresh, bloody bruise on her cheek. Yunai gasped. She couldn't believe her eyes. This wasn't true. There was no way, no way that this whole time, this 'Lucky Girl,' had really been…

"Amy?" Yunai asked, as she tried to stand up. "Oh, oh my god. Amy, is that you?"

"Amy… Lockehart?" HandyBlast asked, his voice cracking. "No way. Y-you've gotta be joking, right?"

Amy froze. She looked down at her mask, then back at the twins. Her eye began twitching slightly. She pulled herself out of the rubble, and wiped the grime off her face, before coming face-to-face with them.

"Yeah. It's me. Amy Lockehart. Who cares? You don't, right Kate? I mean, ever since you got your super cool powers, you never had any time for me anyway, right?"

"Amy, is THAT what this is about?!" Yunai yelled. "I can't just spend every moment of my life with you, you know! … A-and, how did you even know about that, anyway?!"

"You of all people would probably believe that, 'Yunai.' I'm actually a mix of two different races. Half-human, and half Revonnahgander."

"But why?!" Yunai pleaded. "Why on Earth would you ever do any of THIS?!"

"That's on a need-to-know basis." Amy said, angrily. "And dead people don't need to know anything!"

Amy ran at Yunai, but HandyBlast grabbed her by the shoulders, and put her back onto the ground, before he transformed back into human, with a flash of yellow light. Todd looked sadly at her.

"Look, Amy, we don't have to be enemies. We really shouldn't be. Because… If I'm being honest, I don't… No, I WON'T fight you."

"Aw…" Amy cooed. "You're officially my favorite…" Amy punched Todd in the stomach, and pushed him to the ground. "… To mess with."

Amy turned her back on them, and ran over to a heavily locked door, and used a lockpick to unlock the door, quickly. Yunai didn't know how she was going to make herself fight her own friend, but she was going to have to try. She ran over to Amy, and tried to attack her, but Amy flung the door into Yunai's face, smacking her into the ground.

"See you in the poor magazines, Katie! I'm gonna be a millionaire after this!"

Amy ran into the room, and Yunai followed her inside, only for both of them to realize something huge. There was no emerald, only a huge system of wires that were shaped in a series of hexagons. Amy looked around the room, and she began laughing uncontrollably. Yunai tried to mutate her arms, but the Unitrix chip began beeping yellow, and suddenly, she couldn't mutate anymore.

Amy turned, viciously eying Yunai. "Well, well, well… You knew, about this whole Elektra Emerald sham, didn't you? I mean, it's so obvious now, 'Electric Emerald?' Oh, man. You really, really want to make me mad, don't you?"

"Wait, Amy, come on, we can talk about this right? … right?" Yunai gulped, and started backing away from her.

"Nope. No talking. Not anymore, Katie." Amy pulled out her electric whip, and activated it, her eyes becoming practically vacant. "It's over."

She raised the whip in the air, and Yunai shut her eyes. Then there was a loud 'Thunk' noise, and then another, which sounded like a body hitting the floor, and Kate opened her eyes to see Todd standing over Amy's body, holding the pipe he'd torn off earlier. He looked at Yunai, and reached out his hand. She smiled, and took it, as Todd helped her up.

"Wow." Todd said, staring at the practically demolished basement behind them. "You uh, you really know how to pick 'em, don't you, sis?"

"That's one way to put it, I guess." Yunai said, taking off her helmet. "Today's just been one of those days, huh?"

"Yeah." Todd agreed, before his eyes widened. "Uh-oh. Looks like the cops are here. We should skedaddle!"

"Come on!" Kate motioned for Todd to follow her. "I know another way outta here!"

The twins sprinted out of the basement, as the cops began lowering themselves into it.

()

The twins finally reached their house, and saw that the door was wide open. They immediately stopped walking, and began running into the house as fast as they could.

"Uh-oh!" Kate said, as they were running. "I think we might've been robbed!"

"No…" Todd said. "Call it a hunch, but if it was robbed, don't you think they'd close the door, so as not to, I dunno, tip us off?"

"Good point. But if that's not the case, then what is?!"

As the twins entered the house, they saw Matheo who was currently tied to an armchair, and with a white rope over his mouth. As well as that, next to him was a giant blue and black chimp, with 8 limbs, instead of four, and 8 eyes. He turned around, and stared at the twins.

"Ah, you're Todd, right?" He asked, in a sort of raspy, flat voice. "I've heard a lot about you, such as how you were the target Jarnet was chasing before his Gladiator ring shut down."

"What are you doing to our bother?!" Kate asked, surprised. "Who are you?!"

"Your brother here was hiding something extremely important in a lock… It's a long story. Sit down, I'll tell you all about it. Oh, and as for my name, It's Simian. Nice to meet you kids."


	7. O7: Simian's Shard!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd, Kate, and Matheo must defeat Simian, an arachnochimp from space, bent on stealing the Khyber Shard... Or is he?

Todd Harrison was the wielder of an extremely powerful device, known as the Splicatrix, which allowed him to not only transform into over a dozen alien species, 17, in fact. The first alien he ever transformed into was a giant, blue monkey, with 8 limbs, and 8 eyes. He named the alien, "SpiderMonkey," as it had the ability to climb up walls, and shoot webs out of it's tail. That was why he was extremely confused as to why there was another one of that species, sitting directly in front of him.

"Simian." Simian said, calmly. "My name is Simian. You know, since you're asking."

Todd was standing in his living room, with his twin sister Kate, who was staring at Simian as well. There was also the fact that the twin brother of BOTH of them, was sitting in the recliner, tied to it, with a large amount of abnormally large webbing, and glaring at all three of them.

"Yeah, okay!" Kate said, sternly. "What about the lock, w-why is our bother tied to the RECLINER?!"

"Yeah!" Todd said. "Give us some answers, or ELSE."

"Woah, woah." Simian said, putting his hands up. "Relax, kids. I mean, I know how this probably looks, but-"

"Yeah?" Todd asked, stepping forward. "It's gonna look a lot worse, if you don't let. Him. Go."

"Fine. But he's extremely dangerous you know. He also started using some unpleasant words to describe me, so I couldn't just let him go talking, either."

Simian walked over to Matheo, and tore the webbing from his mouth. He immediately began hyperventilating, and muttering incoherently in response.

"Matheo." Kate said, and walked over to him, feeling his forehead. "How're you doing, bro?"

"Mmpph…" Matheo groaned. "I feel like, a negative million bucks… How about you?"

"Simian. What's wrong with him?" Todd asked, trying to sound a little confrontational.

"He's fine, he's fine." Simian said, dismissively. "Say, do you have more of this 'tea,' lying around? It's delectable."

"We'd… We'd have to make some more." Kate said, sitting down on the couch. "So, what's up with, y'know, his Lock… The whole, like dangerous weapon inside it?"

"Right, right." Simian said. "Never miss a beat, do you kids? You might want to learn to be a bit more patient, take conversations for what they're worth. They're not just info-dumps, y'know."

"Cut it out, Simian." Todd said, sternly. "We just want to know why Matheo's tied up like that, and why you're here."

"You know what, Todd, if that's even your real name, I've had just about enough of you. You completely ruined one of MY money-making schemes. I put a lot of work, and planning into that, and what happens?" Simian narrowed his eyes. "Some earth kid comes along, and shuts it down, in the span of about, let's say 3 hours. For my sake."

"Yeah?" Todd asked.

"And now, here we are. Talking, like we're the best of chums, well I don't buy it! You don't get to make the demands here, kid, and that's final!"

"Oh, yeah?!" Todd shouted, holding up his Splicatrix. "I've got 17 aliens at my disposal, right here, and they'll all get you to HEAVILY reconsider that!"

"And here we go again." Simian sighed. "I'm here BECAUSE you kids have those things on you, not to fight you. But how am I supposed to work with you kids if you're going to just start yelling about beating me up? So, I'm going to make this incredibly clear. I NEED your help, and I'm not leaving, 'til I get it, got it?"

"Todd, please." Kate said, staring at him. "Let's just hear him out."

"Fine." Todd said, crossing his arms. "So, let's start over. What's up with that lock?"

"Allow me to answer that question, with a question. Your brother, Matheo, here. Is he generally considered to be, how you say, pretty bright?" Simian asked.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Kate said. "He can invent pretty much anything."

"Interesting. I ask this, because apparently, there was a Khyber Shard, hidden deep within the mechanisms of the lock."

"What's a 'Khyber Shard?' " Todd asked, cocking his head to the side.

"It's a crystal which can provide the power of approximately 1.2 billion lightning bolts simultaneously, for at least a few billion years. Incredibly rare. And your brother here was just carrying one around, inside of a lock. One of my agents caught wind of this, and stole his lock 2 days ago."

"Okay, so where's the shard, then?" Todd asked.

"He must have decided to keep it for himself. Those shards are incredibly rare, you know. He could probably sell it for quadrillions of Taydens, that is, if he got to the right guy."

"And lemme guess." Kate added. "You're here, to enlist us to get it back."

"Oh, not you." Simian said. "Just Matheo. He's the one who acquired it in the first place, he's the one who lost it, so he'll be the most useful in helping me get it back."

"Sorry, dude. Me, Matheo, and Kate are kind of a complete package. You take one of us, you take all of us."

"Is that so, 'dude?' Well, I'm not going to pay three of you to get back a single artifact." Simian said, simply. "So, I'm only taking him. You can rest easy knowing your brother is exactly where I said he'd be, so no need to worry."

Simian grabbed a remote control off of the table, and grabbed onto Matheo. He pressed a large, yellow button on it. He waved goodbye to Todd and Kate.

"Wait!" Todd shouted, and lunged at him, but Simian and Matheo had already vanished. "UNF!" Todd yelled, as he tumbled into the floor.

"He probably zapped back to his ship, which could be anywhere... I think." Kate said, thoughtfully.

"Real helpful." Todd picked himself up off the ground. "We need to figure out where that ship is."

"Well, Matheo's pretty smart, but he's not 'alien-spaceship-tracking' smart." Kate offered. "So, you know, that's out of the question."

"And, if his spaceship was just chilling outside, we would have definitely seen it." Todd thought, before he snapped his fingers. "A-HA! I've got it! I'll use the 'Brodon Stream' to find him!"

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'The Brodon Stream?' What's that supposed to be?"

"Turns out, my Splicatrix, and Matheo's Optitrix are actually kind of linked. That includes a two-way tracking device. Let me see if I can find out how to turn it on."

Todd slid his index and middle fingers over the lid of his Splicatrix, and the ring of selectable aliens popped up. Todd noticed a small symbol, consisting of three lines. He tapped it with his fingers, and a whole new menu popped up, with plenty of other icons. Todd looked through the menu, until he saw a symbol that looked like two Splicatrixes, with two signals being sent between them. Todd tapped this, and yet another menu popped up, this one a radar, showing A white dot in the middle, and a red dot southwest of him, and a distance of 47.8 miles.

"He's pretty far. According to his coordinates, Matheo's about 5 miles in the air." Todd squinted at the radar, before exhaling. "He's also moving away from us slowly, but picking up speed. If we're going to get him before he launches into the stratosphere, we're gonna need to hurry."

Kate nodded. "Okay. Then let's get on with it."

"Alright. You transform, and I'll navigate."

Kate threw on her helmet and mask, before she ran outside, and mutated her legs into turbo-thrusters. She also grew two spherical, insect-like wings, as well, and finally, two extra, muscular red arms. She picked up Todd, who was still running the location search.

"Which direction are we going?" Yunai asked.

"Uh… Southwest… WAIT! Now it's South."

"Got it." Yunai turned around, and blasted herself and Todd into the sky. "Hold on!" She groaned, trying not to let all the wind get to her.

Todd watched the location distance plummet from 47 miles, to only 26 in just 5 minutes. He looked forwards, exhilarated. He'd never gone flying in human form, even if it was just Yunai holding him. He mimicked Super-Man, and started cheering.

"Todd…" Yunai said, straining. "Don't move around too much, okay, or else I'll…" Yunai accidentally let go of him, and Todd began falling to his doom. "TODD!" Yunai shrieked, watching her brother rapidly disappearing.

"Geez. Todd said, dismissively. "What's she so worried about? All I've gotta do is turn into an alien that can fly. Geez!"

Todd looked down at his Splicatrix, which was still in Location Mode. He tapped the holographic interface, but nothing happened. He searched it for a 'back' button, but he couldn't find one. He put his hand through the interface, and tried to slide on the lid, but nothing happened. He rapidly began tapping at his Splicatrix from all angles.

"Uh… HELLO?!" Todd shouted, frantically. "Can you do the whole 'Alienize' thing, already?! TODAY?!"

The ground was way to clear for him to see, and it was only getting clearer.

"Come on!" Todd begged. "Could you cancel, PLEASE?!"

The Splicatrix beeped, and the regular interface reappeared. Todd laughed happily, before dialing in an alien that looked like a scaly insect, and extremely large wings. The faceplate slid back, and Todd slammed the core back down, and emitted a flash of blue light.

()

The Splicatrix sank into Todd's skin, and his skin became overrun with navy-blue scales. His eyes became large, yellow, and pupil-less. His teeth sank into his gums, which became tough, and 4 extra legs tore out of his waist. Two large wings ripped out of Todd's back, and a large tail flew out of Todd's hips. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his left Bicep, and Todd grinned, smoke puffing out of his nostrils.

()

"DRAGONFLY!" He shouted, and flew back up to where he saw Kate still flying to the ship.

"Hey, Yunai!" DragonFly called. "What the heck?! I was almost road pizza for a sec!"

"Why?" She asked, confused. "I thought you could just go alien, and fly back up?"

"Not while I'm in navigation mode, I can't!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?!"

"Whatever." DragonFly huffed. "Let's just get to Simian's ship before it takes off, and I have to find some way to breathe in space as a human."

"Speak of the devil!" Yunai yelled, pointing to a large, black, pointed ship, with 7 extremely large thrusters on it's back. "There it is!"

"Let's get in there, and get Matheo back!" DragonFly cried, flapping his wings as fast as he could.

The twins both flew to the side of Simian's ship, which was much larger than they expected, and Yunai mutated her bottom two hands into white, furry paws, with a long, black claw on the ends of them, and she dug those claws into the side of the ship. DragonFly dug his claws into the ship as well, and they both began slowly climbing to the top of the ship.

"At least he hasn't, like, gone to HyperSpace, yet…" Yunai grunted. "Then, we'd be screwed."

"All the more reason to book it to the top…!" DragonFly strained.

Eventually, they managed to reach the top, still needing to keep their claws firmly planted in the ship's exterior, lest they go flying off into the horizon, and they both looked around for some sort of emergency hatch, but found nothing.

"Rats, no way in." Yunai groaned.

"Not yet." DragonFly smirked.

He lowered his head down, close to the top of the ship, and opened his bug-like maw, and breathed fire onto it, rotating his head in a circular formation, until the metal looked gooey, and deformed. Then, he struck it with his tail, eventually forcing it through the metal, and cut a hole in the metal, and throwing the remaining, circular chunk of metal over the side.

"Sweet!" Yunai grinned, and jumped into the ship.

DragonFly jumped in after her, and the pair both found themselves standing inside of a prison-like room with Matheo bound to the wall, looking extremely sickly. The twins rushed over to him, and started untying him.

"Matheo!" Kate shouted, and hugged him. "Glad to see you're… Uh… Kinda alright."

"Same here… Hey man, you don't look so good. Are you sick?"

"Very much so, yes." Matheo muttered. "It's the altitude. I gotta go alien, before I… Before I blackout."

"That's weird." Kate said. "I feel fine."

"Well you're not human, remember?" Matheo sneered, activating his Optitrix. "That, and you just got here."

Matheo selected an alien that was tall, and bulky, with two protrusions sticking out of his back. He slammed the core down, and there was a flash of red light.

()

Matheo's left arm began covered in hard, green diamond chunks, as well as the rest of his body. As it covered his face, the diamonds surrounded his eyes, which flipped over 180 degrees, to reveal yellow crystals. Two large, diamond spikes grew out of his backs. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his left shoulder, and he flexed.

()

"Okay, this is a new one." Matheo said. "Um, I'm thinking Diamond-Guy."

"NO WAY!" DraonFly protested. "That's obviously Refractor!"

"I really, REALLY don't care." DiamondGuy said, facepalming.

"I still don't get the whole naming thing." Yunai butted in.

"I wasn't talking to you!"

Suddenly, the triplets heard a groaning behind them, and DragonFly turned around to see Jarnet, who was laying in bed, clearly in pain. DragonFly rushed over to him and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Hey, Jarnet!" DragonFly said, excited. "It's me! Todd! Or Hyu. Whichever one works. You know, from the Gladiator thing?"

"Yes… I remember…" Jarnet coughed. "I wish I'd never listened to you."

"Huh? Why not?" DragonFly asked, confused.

"Isn't it obvious? Simian found me. He threw me in this cell, and he won't let me out. Not after my betrayal. My world is this cell, now."

"Don't worry!" DragonFly said, triumphantly. "we're gonna get you out of here, just you wait! Hey, Refr- Uh… I mean DiamondGuy! Open the door, will you?"

DiamondGuy nodded, and fashioned his hands into 2 large spikes, and cut a large hole in the jail bars, and bowed. DragonFly grinned, and helped Jarnet out of the bed.

"Come on man." DragonFly said. "You helped me, so I'm not gonna let you rot in here."

"Thanks…" Jarnet said, impressed. "I don't know how to repay you."

"You can start…" Simian's voice said. "… By getting back into your cell, as soon as possible."

"YOU." Yunai glared.

"Yes, me." Simian said, simply. "And would you look at that? You kids followed your brother all the way out here, despite the fact that you will not be being payed, AND you let out that traitor Jarnet. Wow. It's like you keep giving me the opposite of gifts. I hate it."

"You know what else you're gonna hate?" DiamondGuy growled, walking towards Simian. "What comes next if you don't turn this blasted thing around."

"Gee, as much as I wish I could…" Simian said, shrugging. "I can't. Because we're already here. At Gesmos-X."

"What's that?" DragonFly asked. "Some kind of intergalactic toothpaste?"

"It's… It's actually a desert planet." Jarnet said, quietly. "It's the largest intergalactic black market. Matheo refused to talk, so Simain figured he could find the rogue agent here…"

"Oh." DragonFly said, embarrassed. "I, uh, I knew that."

"So, before I fly you kids home out of nothing except the goodness of my heart, how's about recovering that stolen Khyber Shard?"

"You mean, the Khyber Shard YOU tried to steal from ME?" DiamondGuy said, angrily.

"Uh… Yeah." Simian gulped. "That one."

"Fine." DiamondGuy sighed. "BUT. I'm getting it for me."

"That sounds perfectly reasonable… But I should say, he's not going to be here all day, so maybe you kids should get going."

"Alrighty, then." DragonFly grinned. "Let's make this quick. I don't want to miss the new 'Lucky girl' Episode."

"I knew you watched that show!" Yunai shouted.

"Not relevant!" DragonFly yelled, before he hit the 'Open' button, and the large hangar doors slid open. "Let's go kick his butt, guys!"

The triplets charged out of the ship, and into the marketplace. They looked around, before coming to a realization.

"Hey guys?" Yunai asked. "Did we ever find out the agent's name? … Or what he looks like? … Or whether or not he's EVEN HERE?!"

"Uh-oh…" DragonFly said, and looked at Simian's ship, which had already closed, and was leaving the planet. "He tricked us!"

"I've got it!" Yunai shouted, and began to take off, before her Unitrix began beeping, and she fell onto the ground.

"Looks like it's up to me." DragonFly said sassily, and flew onto the ship's roof and then… His Splicatrix began beeping. "Oh CRAP! NOT NOW!"

There was a flash of yellow, and Todd, now human, fell out of the sky, and onto Simian's ship. He bumped into the ship's roof, and rolled down the roof, scratching at the hull, barely managing to grab onto one of the protruding spikes, dangling over the edge. He screamed, slowly losing his grip. Todd looked down, and saw Matheo put a hand on the ground, before a large diamond Hand came rising out of the ground, and grabbed this ship, stopping it from moving.

"It's… About… Time…!" Todd groaned, pulling himself on top of the protrusion, and running back to the hole in the ceiling.

He dropped back into the cell, and kicked open the door to the captain's quarters, and saw Simian trying to put the Khyber Shard into his control panel. He turned around to see Todd, glaring at him.

"Oh, hey… Todd… How are you… Uh… Doing?" He smiled, shakily.

"You LIED?! After all this?!" Todd yelled. "Seriously, why even come get us in the first place?!"

"I didn't, okay? Matheo contacted ME, saying I split his lock open, and I mean, I couldn't just ignore him, then he'd KNOW it was me!"

"You're scared of my huggable bro?!" Todd exclaimed. "Oh, that is the BEST thing I've heard all week!"

"Well…" Simian tried to change the subject. "Look, I've got the Khyber Shard, alright?! You can't do anything to stop me?!"

"Oh yeah?" Todd grinned, and pulled out a second Khyber Shard. "You sure about that?"

"WHAT?!" Simian shouted, confused. "But… How?! When?!"

"Simian, nobody trusted you from the start. So, during our conversation, in here a few minutes ago, I noticed that you had the Khyber crystal just lying around in that cabinet over there." Todd pointed to the glove compartment under the control panel. "I just took it, and replaced it with a red piece of candy. That's why it's not working, by the way."

"Oh…" Simian frowned. "I see. I guess the only way to beat a Con is to Con the Con, huh?"

"Yep. So, how about you go zoom off to some other Galaxy and never bother us again?"

Todd held both the Khyber Shard and his Splicatrix behind his back, and touched them together. The Splicatrix beeped to notify Todd it had recharged. Todd smirked, before holding up the Khyber Shard in front of his face.

"Yep. Even though you went through all this trouble, you didn't even come close to getting a hold of this thing."

"Don't be so SURE!" Simian growled, and jumped in the air, and shooting a string of webbing at Todd's hand, and yanking the crystal away from him. "Ha! Ha-ha-ha!" Simian laughed. "You foolish kid! Did you really think I'd just let you gloat like that?!"

"Yep." Todd whispered, activating the Splicatrix, and turning it to an alien with two long coils hanging off of his head. "And now, it's time to end this!"

Todd slammed the core of the Splicatrix down, and there was a flash of blue light.

()

Todd's arms became coated in a dark, rubbery, latex coating. His eyes fused together, and became a large blue eye. Two tendrils came shooting out of his head, and brass tips appeared on his fingers. An Omnitrix popped out on his chest. He shot energy beams out of his fingers, and grinned.

()

"PLUG N' PLAY!" He shouted, before he ran at Simian.

Simian's eyes widened, and he jumped out of the way, and slammed the Khyber crystal into the command panel, which began to glow with red electric sparks. DiamondGuy and Kate ran into the Captain's Quarters, and looked around in shock. DiamondGuy scowled, and shot diamond shards at Simian, who was running across the ceiling, shouting out incoherent monkey noises.

"We've gotta do something!" Kate cried, looking around in panic.

"Don't worry." PlugNPlay said, smugly. "I've got it all under control."

PlugNPlay aimed his hands at the Command Panel, and began to absorb the energy flowing through it, as Simian stopped, and glared at him. There was so much energy from the computer, that it was pushing PlugNPlay back, even as he was absorbing it, casuing him to grunt in pain. Simian jumped at PlugNPlay, before DiamondGuy moved in front of him, grabbed Simian, and threw him into the wall. PlugNPlay finished absorbing the energy, smoke sifting out of every corner of his body, before he fired it at Simian, who's eyes suddenly widened. There was a large explosion, and the ship's powers died.

"You think he's gonna be alright?!" Kate asked, as she grabbed Jarnet, and pulled him out of the ship.

"If he is, I hope he thinks twice about messing with the Omni-Triplets!" DiamondGuy cheered.

"Yeah… I actually have a name for us… You know, that isn't… That." Kate said.

"It's Omni-Triplets, Kate."

"We gotta get out of here!" PlugNPlay shouted, blasting though the ship's doors, and running outside. "Because if we don't the ship's gonna-!"

As if solely to interrupt him, Simian's ship collapsed in on itself, then exploded. Sending debris flying at them, which Matheo shielded them from with his diamonds. As he evaporated the shield, the Triplets, and Jarnet, looked at the fiery pile of destruction.

"I retract my previous statement." DiamondGuy said, surprised. "He is DEFINITLY not okay after that."

"Oof." PlugNPlay said, simply.

"Welp, that's… That, I guess. But that only leaves one problem… How do we get home?"

"Oh, don't worry about THAT detail." Jarnet said. "I have several ships on this planet, actually. We can use those to get you kids home… Uh… You kids do have licenses, right?"


	8. O8: The Rath of Maleki!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While at Todd's Go-Kart race, Matheo uncovers an interdimensional evil, who wishes to kidnap the triplets for his amusement!

Matheo Harrison had heard just about enough of people congratulating his twin brother, Todd, for having a 'dream.' That 'dream' being for Todd to eventually become a race-car driver. Now, of course, HOW he planned to do that, Matheo had no clue. Apparently, the only way Todd knew of achieving this dream of his, was to attend every single Go-Kart race he ever heard about. Matheo and Kate also had to go with him just in case anything ended up happening, but honestly, could Matheo really be bothered to attend some stupid race, just to see his brother win 1st place AGAIN?

"No thanks…" Matheo muttered, walking around a foggy desert just outside the track, holding a shovel. "I got better things to do."

He was holding a metal detector, as well, and scanning the area around him, looking for pieces of scrap metal.

"Geez. Who's friggin' dream is to just go-karting all the time?" Matheo grumbled. "That's just plain wack."

The metal detector stopped beeping, and started to heat up, before it combusted into a hundred sparks. Matheo's jaw dropped. He yelped, and stumbled backwards.

"What the?!"

There was an ominous purple glow, careening out of the ground in front of him, and it was extremely humid around the glow as well. Matheo stood up, and cautiously moved towards the glow, before a gray, rotting hand tore itself out of the ground, and grabbed Matheo's ankle. It pulled Matheo to the ground, and towards the hole.

"Lemme go!" He yelled. "I'm not gonna check out your house party!"

Matheo grabbed the shovel, and dug it into the ground, trying to pull himself away from the arm. Instead of pulling Matheo into it, the thing used Matheo to pull itself out. Matheo yelled, and took the shovel back out of the ground, and smacked the creature in the head with it. The creature didn't really react, but it did let go of Matheo's ankle, allowing him to escape.

"What ARE you?!" Matheo asked, yelling. "Some kinda zombie?!"

The thing emerged into the light, allowing Matheo to see him much better. He was sort of chubby, wearing a checkered white-and-red shirt, that was stained with dirt and even a little blood. His skin was peeling, and green-ish, and one of his eyes had fallen out.

"Ugh, fine." The 'zombie' said. "No, I'm not really a zombie. I'm more of a 'ghoul.' "

"Oh… Great. Because that's SO much better." Matheo said, sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, my name's Mark, and I'm here to transport you and you're companions into the odd world of… Uh… What was it again…?" Mark paused for a few seconds. "OH! I remember now, it's 'Exemphria!' "

" 'The odd world of Exemphria?' " Matheo repeated. "Oh, I know that, it's a board game, right? Are you a LARP-er, or something?"

"H-huh?" Mark stuttered. "No, it's an alternate universe. Where'd you get the whole 'board game' thing from?"

"From the fact that it IS." Matheo said. "And even if the game is some kind of… I dunno, portal to an alternate universe, or something, I'm not going anywhere near it. Something tells me I'll be in the 2nd dimension, and that's not happening, pal."

"Oh… Seriously?" Mark asked, disappointed. "Well, that's a shame. I was really looking to enslaving you for the rest of time, and stuff."

"Wait, what?" Matheo asked.

"Oh yeah. Guess I kinda spoiled the twist ending there, didn't I?" Mark chuckled, and his ratty clothes transformed into a purple-and-black jumpsuit, with golden accents. "Yeah, my name's not Mark. It's actually Maleki, Enslaver of Champions, Bringer of Doom, Devourer of Expired Cereal… I'm sure you've heard of me."

"Literally ALL of that doesn't compute. Back up, dude."

"Uh, yeah, like, that's the thing, big M." Maleki said. "I don't think I will. To make a long story short, you're comin' with me."

Maleki created a large, orange orb of energy, and threw it at Matheo who deflected it into the ground with his shovel, causing it to explode. Maleki growled, and created a humongous ball of energy, and threw it at Matheo, who activated his Optitrix, and transformed into the first Alien that appeared, emitting a bright flash of red light.

()

The Optitrix sent an overwhelming electric signal throughout Matheo's body, causing it to malform, and become nothing more than a ball of blue gas. Suddenly, 4 tentacles smashed through the ball, and two green eyes opened towards the top, and an Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest.

()

"ELECTRIC GUY!" He yelled, before becoming intangible, and flying inside of the projectile thrown at him.

Once he was inside, ElectricGuy became tangible again, and blew up the projectile up from the inside. He glared at Maleki, who was staring at him, surprised.

"You're not gonna take me anywhere." ElectricGuy said, simply. "But I'll offer to take YOU somewhere… The hospital!"

ElectricGuy flew towards Maleki, extended, then wrapped his tentacles around him, and electrified them, frying Maleki in the process. Maleki didn't react, though, and grabbed the tentacles, unwrapped them from himself, and threw ElectricGuy into the sky, before teleporting away.

()

ElectricGuy tried to fly, but the velocity was too great to accomplish anything, and he landed in a massive dust explosion right outside of the go-kart stadium. He lifted his head out of the sand, and looked at the stadium. When he did, ElectricGuy's eyes widened.

"Todd and Kate…" ElectricGuy whispered, becoming intangible, and flying through the doors. "They'll help me, I hope."

The announcer's words boomed over the radio: "And, in just a single moment, the final race of the season will begin! Speaking of the season, our top racer, Todd Harrison, has won 10 races so far! However, those were just local competitions! Will our golden boy be able to win the season, once and for all, or is he all talk?!"

ElectricGuy honestly just couldn't care less, so he flew inside of the main loudspeaker, became tangible, causing it to explode, and became intangible once again to resume flying over to Todd. He found both Todd and Kate, over at the starting line, Todd tuning up his Go-Kart, and Kate telling him details she found about the course.

"Finally!" ElectricGuy said. "Now, hopefully, I can make it, before-!"

"On your marks!" The announcer's voice boomed, albeit a little quieter.

"Wait, no!" ElectricGuy cried, trying to reach Todd before he took off. "Not yet!"

But it was too late. The Go-Karts all took off, leaving a large cloud of dust behind them. ElectricGuy grimaced, and flew over to Kate, who was outfitted in racing gear, and tapped her shoulder.

"Huh?" Kate asked, looking around. "Who did that?"

Electricguy's head appeared, startling Kate.

"Kate, listen!" He said. "Look, we've got a situation with some ghoul-emperor who wants to trap all 3 of us eternally in some board game! You need to go change into your Yunai costume, ASAP!"

"I can't!" Kate said, sternly. "It's still in the van! And besides, I'm Todd's driving coach. I can't just bail!"

"Okay, fine. I'll just go talk to Todd." He said, flying off.

Kate said nothing, because she couldn't look like she was talking to herself, but she knew this wasn't going to end well.

()

Todd was doing his best, but he was falling behind the other components. Maybe his engine wasn't good enough, or the tire treads were too worn, or maybe he'd just lost his touch. Whatever the reason, for the first time in years, Todd was going to lose a Go-Kart match. And, of course, it definitely wasn't going to help when ElectricGuy began flying next to Todd, trying to have a conversation, but it's not like he had a choice.

"TODD!" ElectricGuy shouted, now turning tangible. "TODD, WE HAVE A SITUA-! OW!"

A Go-Kart driver drove into ElectricGuy, knocking him high into the air. He readjusted himself, and glared at Todd. ElectricGuy went back to trying to catch up with Todd, before the ground underneath the track began to crack, and glow purple.

"Uh-oh…" ElectricGuy said, quietly. "Looks like Maleki's not leaving me alone…"

He turned, and saw Kate turning and running out of the track, and into the bathrooms. ElectricGuy smirked. At least Kate wasn't being stupid right now, which was always useful. ElectricGuy flew back to Todd's side, and got an idea. He zapped as much electricity into the kart as he could, and hoped the overcharge would stop it in it's tracks.

It didn't.

"OH SHIZA!" Todd screamed, as the car sped off, at what must have been 200 miles per hour.

"Oh, nuts." ElectricGuy deadpanned, and flew after him.

The ground was still rising, and breaking apart, and a ghoul crawled out of the ground, and glared at the Go-Karts, before Todd ran over him, a couple seconds later. Todd was trying to unbuckle his seatbelt, but the overcharge had melted it in place. Todd looked back up at the road, and saw that he was speeding for the mountain of displaced ground, and very quickly.

"Okay…" Todd muttered, panicked. "If the cars going to fast, then hopefully someone here knows how to fix it…"

Todd's Splicatrix was activated, and he scrolled through it, before selecting GreyMatter, raising the core up, and slamming it down, emitting a flash of blue light.

()

Todd's arms became covered with orange and white fur, while 2 curved, black claws shot out of both his hands. Todd's stomach became covered with white fur, and a thick, spring-like tail popped out of his hips. Two elongated eyebrows appeared on his face, and he gained a wide snout. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he roared, furiously.

()

"RA-A-ATH!" He screamed, before looking at his Go-Kart. "LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, CHINESE GO-KART DESIGNING COMPANY, FAST-TRACK, YOU MAY HAVE MADE YOUR DARN KARTS TOO SMALL FOR RATH, BUT NOTHING STOPS RATH, NOT EVEN RATH!"

Rath sliced his seatbelt in half, and jumped out of the seat, before grabbing the go-kart, and throwing it into the mountain causing it to explode. He landed on the ground, cracking it even more. Rath turned, around, and saw the crowd of ghouls lumbering towards him, and roared, before he proceeded to run at them, on all fours. He charged into the crowd, and grabbed two of them, swinging them around like nun-chucks, and using them to smack the other ghouls into the sides of the stand. The audience began cheering for him.

"PUT A SOCK IN IT!" Rath screamed, and the audience shut up. "CAN'T YOU LAUGHING LARRYS PERCIEVE, THAT RATH IS TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM ZOMBIES?! RATH, IS A VERY EASILY DISTRACTED CAT!"

Yunai ran out of the bathroom, and saw Rath swinging away at the ghouls, and groaned. She grew two, long stalks out of her back, and grappled them around two lampposts, and slung herself over to Rath, and mutated her legs into giant, iron blocks, landing swiftly in the middle of the crowd of ghouls, the shockwave generated from this being enough to clear out the ghouls immensely.

"Hey Hyu?!" Yunai asked, delivering a roundhouse kick to the face of a ghoul. "How's it hanging?"

"DO NOT COMPARE RATH TO THAT SMELLY HYU KID EVER AGAIN!" Rath shouted, stomping on a ghoul's toe, before headbutting it back, several feet. "RATH IS RATH! NOT HYU, OR A MONKEY WHO LIKES TO HANG, YO!"

"Okay…" Yunai said, a little confused. "Well, call yourself whatever you like, just don't call yourself late for dinner, AmIRite…?"

"RATH DOESN'T EAT DINNER WITH HUMANS! … MAINLY BECAUSE THE FOOD TASTES LIKE GYM SOCKS!"

"…Wait, really?" Yunai asked, suplexing a ghoul into the ground. "Is my cooking really THAT bad?"

The ground suddenly lit up, and Rath grabbed Kate, and jumped up, on to the grassy part of the track. Blue electricity filled the entire track, and electrified the ghouls, and ElectricGuy confidently floated up, out of the ground. Rath and Yunai ran over to him.

"LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, BLUE ALIEN SQUID THING WHOM I BELIEVE TO BE MY BROTHER, MAINLY DUE TO THE SYMBOL ON YOUR CHEST, RATH FORBIDS YOU FROM ELECTROCUTING GO-KART RACING GROUNDS ANY FURTHER, DUE TO HOW MUCH IT DAMAGES THEM!"

"Okay, Alright, Geez!" ElectricGuy said, pushing Rath out of his face. "I think Todd just unlocked AngryGuy."

"I'd call him hairball." Yunai snickered.

"RATH IS NO HAIRBALL!" Rath shouted. "HAIRBALLS FEAR RATH!"

"Yeah, we get it, dude!" ElectricGuy yelled, glaring at him.

"Uh… Yeah. Sorry." Rath said, quietly.

"Wow." Yunai was surprised. "I… Uh… I didn't know you could get him to stop yelling."

"Well, now…" Maleki appeared behind them, and the Omni-Triplets jumped back, startled. "Looks like you guys were able to take out my Ghoul horde. Impressive. I do believe I underestimated you kids."

"Lemme tell you something…" Rath growled. " 'Maleki,' which I presume is your name, since it's written on your shirt, You've got a lot of nerve, ruining Todd's go-kart game! That's not cool, man!" Rath began running at Maleki. "IN FACT, DUDE, IT'S SO NOT COOL, IT'S HOT! AND GUESS WHAT, JACK?! IT'S SO HOT, I USE THAT ACTION TO SOMEHOW FRY EGGS ON THE SIDEWALK!"

Rath jumped into the air, and punched at Maleki, missing, and faceplanting into the ground. Yunai sighed, and mutated her arms into large, golden battering rams, before jumping at Maleki, and hitting him square in the jaw, then again in his stomach, before Maleki uttered a spell, and forced Yunai to disappear from existence.

"GAH!" Rath shouted from behind Maleki. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING MALEKI, KIDNAPPING CHILDREN IS ILLEGAL IN ALL 27 STATES IN THE UNITED STATES! SO THAT MEANS, FOR YOU KIDDOS OUT THERE, YOU'VE GOT THE SENTENCE FOR KIDNAPPING, TIMES 27! THAT'S A LOT OF TIME, BRO!"

"I grow tired of your shouting." Melki said simply, before grabbing Rath's face, and throwing him into the ground. "Take a nap. The adults are talking."

Maleki turned back to ElectricGuy, more annoyed than anything else. "Are they ALWAYS like that?"

"Oh, you've got no idea." ElectricGuy replied, grimacing. "But that's not a reason for you to take 'em off my hands."

"Oh, I'm not taking them from you. Don't you remember? You're all going to my universe. To entertain me. Forever."

ElectricGuy glared, before he slapped the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, and emitted a flash of red light.

()

ElectricGuy's eyes grew to three times their original size, and turned yellow, and his tentacles became coated in metal. Lastly, four spikes grew out of the symbol, resembling the letter 'X.' Optimal ElectricGuy flew around in a circle, before flying back onto the ground, cracking it.

()

The light faded, and Maleki looked around in confusion. ElectricGuy had disappeared. Maleki was definitely confused, but he tried not to let it get to him. He began looking for ElectricGuy, before he heard his voice behind him.

"HEY, LAME-GAMER!" He called, and Maleki turned around, to see Optimized ElectricGuy telekinetically using electricity to lift 3 go-karts in the air. "You're overdue… FOR A TUNE-UP!"

Optimized ElectricGuy threw the cars into Maleki, causing a massive explosion, and leaving behind a huge crater as well.

"And that takes care of that… Wait." Optimized ElectricGuy saw 5 orange orbs hovering around him, and powering up. "Oh, shoot!"

The beams exploded, and he blacked out.

()

When he awoke, he was sitting in a blue cell, re-humanized, next to Todd and Kate, both of whom were still just starting to wake up. Matheo kicked at the bar, and he immediately recoiled from the pain, as the bars were made from an electricity-metal hybrid, which hurt to touch. Even the floor kind of hurt to sit on.

"What… Happened?" Kate asked, shaking her head.

"Whatever happened, it sure hurt like heck."

"You guys." Matheo said, annoyed. "It was obviously that Maleki guy. He was talking about enslaving us for eternity. He must have succeeded."

" 'Maleki Guy…' " Todd snickered. "Hey, that rhymes."

"SERIOUSLY, DIPSHIT, HOW IS THAT YOUR FIRST CONCERN?!" Matheo exploded at him, and both Todd and Kate gasped.

"Matthias…" Kate said, hurt.

She used his full name. Nobody ever used that before. Matheo knew he hurt them, but…

"Well, it's true." Matheo shook his head. "We're in a bad situation here, and we're never gonna get out, and what is this guy saying? 'Oh, well, y'know, that rhymes, hurr durr…' I mean, are you for real?"

"But, still… You shouldn't be saying that, especially not to your brother…" Kate said, softly.

"Tough." Matheo said, simply. "People say that stuff all the time in the real world. You guys need to grow up, and quit being kids."

Kate sighed. "You know what? If growing up means being a jerk to your own family, count me out."

Todd didn't say anything. He only stared at Matheo, before turning to the wall of the cage. Nobody said a word. There was only silence, and discomfort in the air. Matheo looked back at his siblings, and groaned. The longer he stood still in that cage, the more his words began to hang in the air. He hadn't thought about what he said, not at all… No, he had. That was what made it hurt all the more. Matheo meant every word of it. He looked at the cage, before he saw Maleki, levitating in midair, staring at them, engrossed.

"What do you want?" Matheo asked, blankly.

"Well, I was looking forward to putting you guys into my simulated environment below you, so you could play out every scenario I make up on a whim to entertain me, but this drama you're showcasing has turned out to be far more engrossing."

"Yeah." Matheo sighed. "I guess that's all I'm good for, huh? Starting drama?"

"You can say that again!" Maleki said, gleefully. "If you weren't a part of the team, it seems like everyone would get along well, just fine without you!"

Matheo's eyes lit up at that statement. Was that… True? Was he really ONLY good for dragging Todd and Kate down? Was he… Was Matheo the weak link of the team…?

"No…" Matheo scowled. "I ain't no weak link. I'm the glue that holds everyone together!"

"Well, that's not only lame, it's also not true." Maleki retorted, uninterested.

Matheo looked at the bars of the cage. To simulate jail bars, the actual iron parts needed to be extremely thin, with thick electricity around them. Matheo grimaced. If he was gonna get out of here, he would need to bend the electrified bars, as a HUMAN. He could do it, but it was going to hurt, really badly. But Matheo didn't care about that. He stuck his hands into the blue mist, and immediately felt hundreds of watts of energy, all running into his body, and shocking him.

"GAH!" Matheo shrieked, but didn't let himself pull away.

Maleki watched, suddenly extremely invested. Matheo was able to snap the bars in half, barely, which stopped the energy from passing through them. Once the surge stopped, he collapsed on the floor, his arms blackened, and torn up. His bones were visible, and his flesh was somehow still in one piece, though parts of it were peeling off. Thankfully, the energy had overridden the Optitrix's time-out feature, so Matheo activated it, and selected the big, four-armed alien. He pressed the core down, and was consumed by red.

()

Veins shot out of the Optitrix, and into Matheo's body, running into his eyes, which were both split in two, and turned orange. Two extra arms shot out of his abdomen, and his hair was turned into a dark line, which ran down his neck. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he flexed his large, muscular arms.

()

"ArmsGuy!" He yelled, bursting through the smoke, and jumping onto Maleki, punching him, and sending him in to the ground.

ArmsGuy knew Todd and Kate were still stuck in the cage, since their Omnitrixes hadn't recharged, yet, so it was only him here. Maleki picked himself off the ground, and put his hand on the ground, causing stacks of earth to shoot out of the ground, and at ArmsGuy. He smirked, and pulled a stack out of the ground, and used it to demolish the other stacks, creating a large cloud of dust.

"Agh!" Maleki coughed. "Ugh… Cut it out, Matheo. This is my domain! You are at an extreme disadvantage, or to say, you will be killed if you keep this up any longer!"

ArmsGuy had run off to the side of the arena, under the cover of the dust cloud, and tore a palm tree from the ground, before he ran back at Maleki, and used it hit him in the stomach. Maleki tumbled to the ground, before using his telekinesis to steal the tree from ArmsGuy, and threw it back at him, hitting his face.

"Ow!" ArmsGuy grunted, dropping to his knees.

He looked up to see Maleki staring at him, who grabbed his neck, and lifted ArmsGuy into the air, and grinned maniacally.

"I told you…" Maleki said, in pain. "You don't mess with me… And get away with it."

He smashed ArmsGuy into the ground, before he was stopped by Kate, who was floating down, and shooting Maleki with slimeballs, before Todd jumped off of her, and activated his Splicatrix in mid-air, and selecting a flat-looking alien, and slamming the core down, emitting a bright explosion of blue light.

()

The Splicatrix transformed itself into a black-and white drawing on Todd's arm, which consumed the rest of his body with paper. Once he was fully consumed, his body became flattened, and his head became rectangular. A mouth, and scribbly eyes were drawn on his face, as well as a semblance of an outfit on his body, and finally, an Omnitrix symbol on his chest. Todd transformed his hands into hammers, and grinned.

()

"PAPERCUT!" He yelled, and turned himself into a large rope, and wrapped himself around Maleki's neck, attached himself to the ground, reinforced himself, and finally pulled Maleki face into the dirt.

Kate landed next to ArmsGuy, and helped him out. She smirked at him.

"You guys…" He said, breathlessly. "You came to help me… Even after what I said…"

"Save it, dude." Kate said, sternly. "You can be a real jerk sometimes, but I think deep-frying yourself is more than enough of an apology."

ArmsGuy grinned. "Gotcha. Now, you ready take this dude out?"

"Let's do this." Kate smirked, mutating her arms into large, muscular, plant-like limbs.

ArmsGuy ran to Maleki, and threw him into the air, while Kate untangled her arms, and grabbed Maleki out of the air, before tightening her grip to the point where his face turned purple, and threw him into the ground, before PaperCut created a Paper-Restraining Plate, to hold Maleki down.

"Okay, Mr. Game-maker." ArmsGuy said, his foot on Maleki's chest. "Get us out of here, before things get ugly. That's the deal."

"I'd listen to big, strong, and ugly over here." Kate said, glaring at him.

Maleki looked at both of them, while ArmsGuy cracked his knuckles. Twice. Maleki's face grew panicked.

"OK, OK!" He shouted, squirming, and sweating. "I'll let you guys out, just don't hurt me!"

"Whatever you say, chief!" Paper Cut said.

Maleki closed his eyes, and a second later, a portal appeared.

"Okay, alright." He said, quickly. "There's your precious portal, now please, just leave! I even made sure it'll close on it's own, in like, 30 seconds, so hurry out, please!"

"You got it, chief!" PaperCut said.

PaperCut separated himself from the restrainer that was keeping Maleki in place, and left for the portal.

"HEY, WAIT!" Maleki yelled, shaking his head. "You guys forgot to let me out!"

"Oh, I didn't forget!" PaperCut smirked. "You just need some time to think about what you did!"

"That wasn't the deal!" Maleki yelled, before he stopped, and thought for a second. "…At least, I don't THINK it was…"

()

As the triplets jumped out of the portal, and landed back outside the stadium, they each breathed a sigh of relief.

"That all ended, pretty alright, I guess." Kate said.

"You can say that again." Arms Guy said, before he sighed. "Look, about what I said in the cage, Todd… I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

PaperCut stared at him, before hugging him, then laughing. "Come on, dude. I'm not some bitter old man. Like I'm gonna hold grudges against you, or something."

"That's good." ArmsGuy said, relieved. "And for what it's worth… I'm glad we're still kids."

"Me too, pal." PaperCut smiled. "Come on, let's go home."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Kate is attempting to get firsthand research on Wrld War 1, the triplets are sent back through time, and meet alternate versions of their younger selves!

Kate Harrison wasn't what you'd call 'good with history.' In fact, you'd probably be better off calling her bad at it. She'd bombed her last 6 assignments, and 2 tests, so her grade in math class was a D-average, and teetering on an 'F.' Mr. Shomlok walked over to her desk, where she was chatting with her friends, about how the new Lucky Girl movie was doomed to fail, when he tapped Kate on her shoulder.

"Yeah?" Kate asked, then turned around to see an angry Mr. Shomlok, arms crossed, glaring at her. "Oh… Hi."

"Hello, indeed, Katherine." He scowled, reading over his clipboard.

"Oooh…" Nelsie snickered.

"Somebody's in tro-o-ouble…" Margot smirked.

"Guys, shh!" Kate shushed.

"No, no…" Mr. Shomlok said, simply. "You are certainly 'in trouble,' young lady."

"Oh boy." Kate gulped.

"You've been practically ignoring this class for the past 3 weeks, always chattering to your friends, or texting your friends, or just doodling in your notebook. And yet, with all this free time, you still haven't decided to try and pay any attention in class."

"I have!" Kate said, defensively. "It just doesn't look like it!"

"Oh, really?" Shomlok narrowed his eyes. "Where are your research documents, essay, and presentation on World War I, hm?"

"Uh… My brothers ate them…?" Kate grinned, sheepishly.

"Well, then, Katherine, since I'm in a generous mood, I'll let you make up the presentation."

"Wait, really?!" Kate asked, shocked. "No tricks?"

"Why… Why would I try and trick you?"

"Well, thanks!" Kate said, grinning. "And I'll make sure my brothers don't eat it this time! Definitely!"

"Wait, were you being serious about the whole 'eating thing?' "

"No time to talk, mister!" Kate said, gleefully. "Gotta work!"

"Right." Shomlok said, nodding, and walking away.

"Well, I'll be." Margot said, smirking. "I've been coming to this school for 5 years now, and I ain't NEVER heard of Mr. Shomlok letting someone off the hook like that."

"For now…" Kate groaned, and dropped her head on the desk. "But, when I inevitably fail to get this project out, and Shomlok comes back, he's probably gonna throw me in the clink."

"Please tell me you didn't just say the word 'clink,' to refer to detention, Katie." Margot frowned.

"I'll refer to it however I like."

That was when she got an idea. True, she might not be smart enough to complete the paper, but she knew someone who WAS. Kate grinned evilly.

"Oh boy." Nelsie said. "I don't like it when she gets THAT look in her eyes…"

()

Later at recess, Matheo was sitting alone at the end of his lunch table watching videos on his phone, when Kate sat next to him, and waited for him to respond. Matheo didn't react, at all. Kate groaned, and waved her hand in his face. When that didn't work, Kate yanked his headphones out of his ears, causing him to yelp.

"HEY!" Matheo yelped, rubbing his ears. "Kate? What was that for?!"

"I need your help with something." Kate whispered. "I need to do an assignment on World War I. Hopefully you can help me out."

Matheo was about to say something, but he stopped himself, nodded his head a couple of times, and looked back to Kate.

"Okay…" Matheo said, slowly. "You need info on the ''War to end all Wars,' right?"

"Uh… No. I actually need info on WWI?"

"IT'S THE SAME THING!" Matheo yelled, before composing himself. "Sorry."

"No sweat." Kate said. "So, what's your brilliant plan to make me a WWI expert?"

"Oh, you'll see…" Matheo rubbed his hands together. "You will see…"

"It's a time machine isn't it?" Kate asked, unimpressed.

"What? No." Matheo shook his head. "Time can't just be harnessed all willy nilly. To harness something requires time, practice, and rock-solid dedication."

"... All of which being things you DON'T have?"

"No, I HAVE them, just… Just wait, and see, okay?"

"Alright…"

()

"You guys are making a time machine to go back to WWI?!" Todd asked, in utter disbelief. "I wanna come!"

"Sorry, Todd." Matheo sighed. "This is kinda a 'Kate-only' thing."

"But why?!" Todd whined. "I wanna go back in time! Pretty, pretty please?"

"Let him come along, Mo." Kate said.

"Whatever." Matheo rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I'm definitely staying here. Somebody needs to bring you guys back, and I'm obviously the only candidate."

"But… Can't you just put that function on a timer?" Todd asked.

They both stared at him, their jaws dropped to the ground.

"Did… Did Todd just say something smart?" Kate asked, floored.

"Yeah. I think he did." Matheo said, impressed. "But… Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. Sorry guys, I'm gonna have to stay behind."

"You can't, like add it in?"

"No! Now stop asking, or I'll shut this whole thing down completely, and laugh at you when you get put in Summer School!" Matheo shouted.

Kate gulped. Summer School? She hadn't even considered that. Nobody would ever want to hang out with her again if she turned out to be some dumb girl. Not her friends, or some… Boy. Kate became uncomfortable thinking about herself dating a boy, but she just…She didn't get it. Maybe she wasn't old enough, maybe it's the fact that she had 2 brothers, who knows… And who cares?

"Kate." Todd pulled her aside. "I think Mo's planning something."

"What makes you say that…?" Kate asked, worried.

"Well, just look at the guy. He can't wait for us to jump into the machine, and get teleported to… I dunno, the Heat Death of the Universe, I guess."

"I don't… THINK he'd do that." Kate looked back at Matheo, who was staring at them impatiently. "At least, I hope he won't."

"Are you guys coming?!" Matheo shouted at them.

"Not unless you're coming with us!" Todd said back.

"Then forget it. So much for traveling thr-UMPH" Matheo was interrupted by bumping into a large man, in a large trenchcoat, and a scar on his face. "L-Legladon?!" Matheo asked, startled.

"Hey Matt. Been a while, ain't it?" Legladon helped Matheo up. "What was it again…? Oh yeah. You were hacking that weird thing on your arm. How'd that turn out, by the way?"

Matheo gave Legladon a deadly stare. "... It went… Exactly as you said it would. How… How'd you know that?"

"Excuse me, ex-boss, but I never said anything, except 'Hi,' and 'Be careful.' It ain't my fault you decided to go along with it anyway."

"Oh… Right." Matheo facepalmed. "Ha-ha. Man, how'd I screw that up?"

"Uh, Mo…?" Kate asked, confused. "Who's this guy?"

"Oh, yeah." Matheo pointed at Legladon. "Todd, Kate, this is Legladon. The only guy I know that scammed the entire state of Kentucky into believing they were gonna implode from the inside… Or something like that."

"Wow." Todd said, skeptically. "Care to spill the details?"

"No time." Legladon said, shaking his head, before grabbing Matheo, and throwing him onto the time pad. "New boss actually sent me out here for a reason. To kill you."

"Hey!" Kate yelled, jumping at Legladon. "Nobody does that to my bro!"

Legladon only grabbed her out of the air, and Todd as well, flinging them both onto the time pad as well. He then pressed large yellow button, labeled 'encase,' and a large, thick glass tube fell down around them, and sealed itself to the ground.

"Why Leg?!" Matheo banged on the glass. "Why would you do this?! I thought we were friends!"

"I know, dude." Legladon shook his head. "But sometimes, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. I need this money to pay off my debts to some pretty bad guys."

"You're not gonna get away with this…" Kate growled at Legladon. "We're the Omni-Triplets, and we're gonna find some way out of this, and kick our heinie into next week!"

" 'Henie?' " Todd asked, confused.

"Now let's see here…" Legladon scanned the console. "In every time movie I've ever seen, when the heroes meet their younger selves, they cause a time-implosion, and fade out of existence… Yeah… Let's go with that."

"Legladon, STOP!" Matheo cried, but it was too late.

The tube lit up with a purple vortex, and the triplets were sucked inside in seconds, and the very next second, the tube was filled with smoke. Legladon grinned. His work was done. He took a walkie-talkie out of his pocket, and started talking into it.

"Carson? Yeah, it's me, Leggy." He said, watching the smoke begin to dissolve, revealing only the empty space of the tube. "The Harrison triplets, namely Matheo, have all been disposed of. Reporting back to you."

()

The triplets were teleported a few meters above a sidewalk, and all fell on top of one another. An old lady walking her dog saw all of this, and ran off screaming, dragging her barking chihuahua away with her. A taxi cab also swerved to a stop, and the cars behind him had to frantically dodge to the side to avoid getting into a wreck.

"Get… OFF of me…" Kate groaned, pushing Matheo down the pile, then getting off of

Todd.

'You guys, I think that time-portal made me kind of sick…" Todd mumbled, before sneezing.

"No way" Matheo said, getting up and rolling his eyes at the same time… Somehow. "Time travel doesn't take a physical toll on the user's health, that's poppycock."

"Well, I AM." Todd sniffed. "So, rewrite your… Equation, or whatever."

"Hypothesis, actually."

"Guys, cut it out." Kate said looking around. "According to this sign, we're on Hopenorth lane, but I can't find our house anywhere…"

Since their parents had both been missing since they were toddlers, the Harrison Household was an absolute mess on the outside, (Though it was actually quite clean on the inside) The paint was peeling all over, there were plenty of holes in the fence that needed to be messily fixed, and half of the windows were cracked. However, every house here looked good as new, even though, according to their address…

"... We should be standing right in front of it." Kate said, looking at a bright blue house, which looked like it'd just finished construction.

"Maybe in the past, we had a different house?" Matheo asked, crossing his arms.

"No. This is it." Todd pointed at the house. "Look. Even though it's in way better condition… *A-CHOO!* … Ugh, sorry… I mean, it's still the same build, practically identical but just a different coat of paint."

"There's only one way to find out, then." Matheo walked up to the door, before Kate grabbed his arm.

"WHAT are you doing?" She asked, staring at him. "Do you want to get us to cease to exist?"

"Relax, Katie-poo." Matheo said, smugly. "I programmed the machine to send us to an alternate universe. If we interact with 'ourselves,' we'll be fine."

"Are you sure…?" Todd asked, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

"Uh, yeah." Matheo said. "I built it. I know what I'm talking about. Besides, it's not too far from our universe event wise, so what's the worst that could happen?"

Matheo rang the doorbell, and was immediately shocked to see a 7-year-old version of himself, opening the door, and wearing… His very own Optitrix.

"What the…?" Todd said, extremely creeped out.

"Wait, I thought you guys got those watches, like 3 weeks ago! Why are you wearing one when your 5?!"

"OHMYGOSH!" The young Matheo shouted, and pulled the triplets inside. "It's me from the future! Come in, come in! We've got so much stuff to talk about!"

"Pushy little guy, isn't he?" Todd joked, before they both saw a younger Kate staring at them, from the kitchen.

Present Kate walked over to her, but Young Kate jumped out of her chair, and ran into the backyard. Todd walked next to Present Kate, scratching his head.

"Uh… Guess you were super-shy, here, huh?" Todd asked, baffled. "I wonder what past me's like."

"Who are you guys?" They heard a small voice say from behind them.

Present Todd and Kate both turned around to see Young Todd, twirling a yo-yo, leaning against a corner, and staring at them. He was also wearing his own Splicatrix.

"I'm you, but 6 years older." Present Todd said, shrugging. "Well, not really. We're also from another dimension."

"Yeah…" Young Todd rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"You're pretty calm about all this." Present Todd noted.

"Unnaturally so?" Past Todd finished. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Young Todd walked over to the seat with the Matheo's, and Present Todd shrugged, following him. Present Kate sighed, but saw her younger self staring at her, now directly in front of her. Present Kate raised her hand, slowly, and waved to her.

"Hey there, lil' guy.'' Present Kate said, kneeling down to her. "Nice to meet you. I'm from the future."

"Uh-huh." Past Kate said, quietly. "... Hey, 'me,' can I ask a question?"

"Uh, yeah! Shoot!" Present Kate said, trying to seem confident, and not completely weirded out.

"I guess I just wanna know why you decided to come back? Y'know, to this point in time… It's just that… I don't… Really like it here, right now, anyway."

"Oh…" Present Kate put her hand. "Look, I… I don't know, I guess. We were trying to go back in time, to World War I, to learn about it for a paper I was gonna do, but… A bad man hi-jacked the console, and now we're stuck here."

"You don't have to talk down to me!" Past Kate protested. "I'm not a baby! I'm actually 7, y'know!"

"Good for you! Really!"

"Whatever! ... One more thing, did you really need to go back in time to do some old paper?" Past Kate looked at her.

Present Kate was taken aback. "... What…?"

"Nevermind. I guess you're just... How do I put this? ... Dumb? Maybe that's why you can't just do a little research like everyone else."

Past Kate walked away from Present Kate, and sat down on the sofa, next to everyone else. Present Kate stood still for a while, but eventually followed her. Everyone was talking about the Matheo's both teaming-up, and making another time-machine.

"But if we're gonna do that…" Past Todd asked. "Aren't we gonna need like, a gazillion watts of energy, or something?"

"Easy." Present Matheo held up the Optitrix. "We'll just use these."

"Oh, yeah." Past Kate rolled her eyes. "Cause, ya'know, every time you incorporate the Optitrix into an invention it just goes SO well."

"Nope, this time, we'll take advantage of the Omnitrixes's strangest property." Past Matheo grinned. "I call it the 'Infinity Component.' Despite the fact that our transformations are on a timer, I've actually found that it's rarely due to power. In fact, the Omnitrixes actually recycle power, from an already extremely energetic power source."

"In short," Present Matheo finished. "Our Omnitrixes actually run on infinite power, so they quite literally make the perfect power sources."

"Brilliant, as always, Matheo." Present Todd complimented him.

"briLlIaNt, aS aLwAYs, MaTHeO." Past Todd mimicked.

"Hey, come on guys, are we gonna go, or what?" Present Kate asked, and they all walked into the lab.

()

Within a few hours, the time machine was finished. And all that was left was to power it. The Matheos had constructed a four-way power siphoner that would absorb the energy from their Omnitrixes, and use that to power the time machine. The Todds and Matheos stood around the siphoner, and looked at each other, before nodding, and strapping their Omnitrixes to the batteries, and present Kate sighed with boredom, before pulling a switch, and the machine began siphoning power from the Omnitrixes.

"So." Young Kate asked, staring at her future self. "What're you gonna do when you get home?"

"You know, I don't remember being this much of a self-righteous, self-absorbed, pretentious JERK when I was 7."

"Because we're not actually the same person. But I asked you a question."

"Well, I'm gonna make sure the time machine works CORRECTLY this time, and get my data for that WWI presentation. It's not gonna write itself, You know."

Young Kate stared at her. "So, you didn't listen, huh?"

"No, and you know why?" Present Kate asked, seriously annoyed. "It's because kids are seen and not heard. So why don't you take your weird, wrong, 'work harder to get better' advice, and stick it where the sun don't shine, huh, girlie?"

"Wow." Past Kate sighed. "No wonder your brothers don't like you. You're a big, fat, lazy JERK!"

The Kates stared at each other, before there was a large blast from the machine, and they looked to their right. A giant, purple fuzzy hand had torn it's way out of the computer screen, and the rest of it was climbing out too, moaning in agony. The Kates looked at each other, and both mutated their arms into four, muscular, red arms.

"Time to alienize!" Past Todd shouted, before he looked at his Splicatrix, which was out of power. "Uh-oh."

"You guys! Present Matheo yelled. "I can't go alien!"

"But we can!" The Kates yelled, and ran at the energy guy. Past Kate ran over to loose metal on the ground, bent them into gloves, and threw them to Present Kate. "Here!" She yelled.

"Gotcha!" Present Kate shouted, jumping into the air, and slipping on the gloves before she realized what was happening.

The punch she landed electrocuted her, and she was sent flying into the wall on the other side of the lab, creating a giant cloud of smoke around her.

"You really ARE dumb!" Past Kate yelled, laughing.

"You could have KILLED me!" Present Kate yelled, falling from the wall.

"I think we should get to cover." Past Todd suggested.

"I concur!" Present Matheo yelled, and they ducked behind a desk.

"You're such a little piece of work!" Present Kate shouted, glaring at her younger self.

"And you're an idiot!" Past Kate stuck out her tongue. "It all evens out in the end!"

"You want smart, huh?!" Present Kate yelled, mutating her arms into black arms, with copper holes at the fingertips. "I'll give you smart!"

She absorbed the monster energy, and the monster itself, and fired it back at the exposed circuit board on the side of the machine, causing it to whirr to life. Present Kate transformed her arms back to human, and Past Kate walked over to her.

"Listen, me, for once!" She said. "You're not gonna get nothing done by cheating. You're not gonna get smart by cheating! If you wanna stay out of detention, Summer School, wherever, you've gotta do the work! Geez!"

"... Ugh." Present Kate shook her head. "Okay. You're right. Cheating might get me out of the clink for now, but I'll only end up in the same situation later. That's… Really good advice, especially from a 7-year-old."

" 'The Clink?' Really?" Present Todd asked, walking over to the Kates.

"Oh, put a sock in it." Present Kate said.

"Hey, I'm you." Past Kate said, shrugging. "I had to learn that lesson once or twice, myself."

"Well, you guys fixed the time machine, so I guess we can go home, huh?" Present Todd asked.

"Yup." Past Matheo said.

As the triplets lined up to return to their normal time, Present Kate's face lit up, as if he'd just remembered something.

"Oh yeah!" She said. "I was curious… How DID you guys get your Omnitrixes in this universe, anyways?"

Matheo looked at her. "We… Were born with them, dude. Just like you?"

Kate nodded, slowly. "Uh… Yeah. Let's go with that."

Kate waved goodbye to the young Triplets, silently chewing on the new information she'd been given.

()

The next day, Kate was in History class, presenting on World War I, as well as it's aftermath, and the people involved in it. When she finished, everyone in class clapped for her, and she took a bow, and walked back to her desk with her friends, as Mr. Shomlok gave her an approving nod.

"Well, well." Margot said, smiling at her friend. "Great work, girl!"

"Yeah, you really pulled through Kate!" Nelsie congratulated her. "We really didn't expect you to finish it!"

"I certainly didn't care." Lebana said, gruffly.

Kate felt extremely bad, all of a sudden. "Lebana…"

"Oh, I'm sorry?" Lebana asked, annoyed. "I don't remember asking you."

Kate was stunned, but smiled, sadly.

"Ignore her." Nelsie said, supportively. "Kate, you really did do a good job."

"Thanks, girls." Kate grinned, cheesily. "I guess you could say, I really HELPED MYSELF, out of that one, huh?"

"I… Guess?" Margot said halfheartedly, before the girls all burst out laughing, except Lebana, who just scoffed.


	10. O10: Sick Day!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd, while sick, and Matheo chase down an evil supervillain, who is causing havoc downtown!

Todd Harrison had been battling a nasty cold for the past day and a half, due to his jumping through time portals… Twice. He'd been holed up in the house all day, and Matheo decided to stay home with him to keep him company. Kate couldn't, however. She had far too much schoolwork missing, again, and so had to attend school for the day. During the afternoon, Todd was sitting on the floor, huddled in a thick blanket, and with a box of tissues next to him. Matheo was also sitting across from him, playing a game of BattleShip with Todd.

"I said it was B3!" Todd shouted, before pouting. "You totally put the peg in the wrong hole, bro!"

Todd and Matheo were tied, both having a 3-seater and a 2-seater left. This was the first time this had happened to either of them, both just 5 lucky guesses away from either defeat, or victory.

"Me? Cheat?" Matheo put his hand on his chest, and his eyes widened. "I would never."

"Show me your board, then." Todd said, annoyed.

"What?!" Matheo said, in disbelief. "Why would I…? Hey, wait a minute, how did you even … Er… Know I was cheating in the first place?"

"I was bluffing." Todd smirked. "But now I know you were. Put the peg in the correct spot, now."

"Fine." Matheo grumbled, moving the peg over a spot.

"So?" Todd asked. "Did I get your ship?"

"Well, you DID, before you falsely accused me of cheating, and told me to move the peg somewhere ELSE."

"Wait, what?!" Todd asked.

"What was hard to understand about that statement, dude? You screwed yourself. End of story."

"Ah, MAN!" Todd yelled, before sneezing twice, at the same time.

"Bless you… Okay, my turn. Uh, let's go with B2."

"Nuts." Todd put a red peg in the middle of his 3-seater.

"I think you put the peg in the wrong spot, Todd." Matheo said, smugly.

"Shut up."

Matheo twiddled his thumbs. "So, after you lose your 4th game in a row, you up for another rematch? … Or is 12 games enough?"

"Maybe you should ask yourself that." Todd smirked. "Besides, when I win this, we'll be 6-to-6. We're gonna need a tie-breaker… B3."

"Oh, my…" Matheo rolled his eyes. "How'd you guess THAT?"

"Can you not mock me every chance you get?" Todd sniffled.

"I'll mock anyone who uses the word 'mock.' " Matheo smirked, putting a red peg in his 2-seater.

"Yeah, whatever." Todd sat still. "Let's try A4."

"Hit."

"Sweet!" Todd fist pumped. "You're going down, to Chinatown!"

"Yeah, yeah… C2"

"Pfft. Not even close."

Matheo stared at the board, and groaned. "... Hey, you think we could take a break for a sec? I'm starving… You know, metaphorically."

"Yeah, I know you're not actually… Whatever. Yeah, sure. I guess I could use a bite to eat, too."

Todd stood up, clutching his blanket all the while, and blowing his nose into a handful of tissues. He groaned loudly. Matheo opened the freezer, and took out a frozen pizza. Todd took out a cooking pan from the cupboard, and sprayed it with cooking oil.

"Pan's all ready." Todd said, weakly.

"Good, cuz the pizza's coming at ya!" Matheo paused. "Or… Why bother with the oven, when FireGuy could cook it instantly?"

"Matheo, please." Todd said, sternly. "That's our only pizza."

"Alright, whatever. I'm just trying to cheer you up, dude." Matheo mumbled, dropping the pizza onto the pan.

"Thanks." Todd said, sliding the pan into the oven, and preheating it. "It should be good to go, in… Uh… Let's go with 25-ish minutes."

"Coolio." Matheo took out a protein bar from the pantry, and bit into it. "Hey, you wanna race around the neighborhood?"

"Maybe tomorrow."

"Gotcha." Matheo clicked his tongue. "Football? I'll let you use your Splicatrix…"

"Not while I'm SICK, dude." Todd sneezed, covering his sleeve in snot. "... That's disgusting."

As Todd washed his sleeve, he heard Matheo gasp behind him. Matheo was watching the news, and pointing excitedly at it.

"Todd! It's a supervillain! Let's go!"

"But… The pizza."

"Todd, come on!" Matheo moaned. "We'll be back by then!"

"Alright, but I'm gonna go Haxie, and do support. You, the not sick one, should probably do the heavy lifting."

"Dude, you're really good at making plans, you know?"

"... Thanks? Anyways, let's get this over with, come on." Todd motioned.

The twins opened the front door, Todd shivering all the while, and activated their Omnitrixes, Todd dialing Haxie, and Matheo dialing to FastGuy, and they both slammed their cores down, creating 2 bright flashes of red and blue light.

()

Metal wires came flying out of the Splicatrix, and wrapped around Todd's entire body, making it incredibly skinny. His eyes and nose became a giant blue eyeball, and 2 holographic-esque, thin wings shot out of his back. He buzzed, and flew around in a circle.

()

Matheo's Optritrix sank into his arm, and veins ran all over his arm, as well. The veins ran up to his face, and transmogrified his face, making it blue, with black lines running from his forehead to his chin. His legs became long, and his feet grew wheels on their soles, and finally, 3 long claws grew out of his hands. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he threw his visor down.

()

"Haxie…!" He said, before looking down at himself.

Because of his sickness, Haxie's body couldn't generate enough energy for him to be able to fly, (Causing his blue wiring to become a sickly brown.), and so, he plummeted to the ground. Thankfully, though, FastGuy ran over, and caught him.

"Okay... " Haxie said in a high-pitched voice. "Maybe my plan wasn't that good."

"Do you know how to transform into a different alien mid-transformation, yet?" FastGuy asked, picking up speed.

"No…" Haxie mumbled, clearly in disarray. "I thought it might have had something to do with the Omnitrix symbols on our chest, but that's how we Splice, or go Optimal, so I don't even know if it's possible..."

"Speaking of which…" FastGuy said, searching the city for the attacker. "Try splicing now! You figured out how to control it, right?"

"Sure… I guess. Yeah, why not?"

Haxie turned his Omnitrix symbol to a marking that looked like a plant, but was extremely bulky, and muscular. He slapped it, and was engulfed in blue light.

()

Haxie's wiring became a vibrant green, and covered with leaves. 2 gigantic thin legs burst out of his waist, and curve downwards. Meanwhile, Haxie's eye became tinted yellow, and he shot a laser beam out of it.

()

The light faded, and due to the extra weight, FastGuy collapsed, and the now-Spliced Haxie tumbled onto the ground.

"OverRoot and Haxie?" He asked, getting up. "HaxRoot."

HaxRoot looked over to FastGuy, who just now managed to stand. "FastGuy, do you know where the villain is? … Maybe his name? What he's doing…? ANYTHING?"

"No, I don't." FastGuy admitted. "I thought we'd find him a lot faster then this."

"Oh. My. GAWD." A passerby yelled. "It's the Katachi league!"

"What's that?" FastGuy asked, confused.

"It's the name our fans made for us, dude." HaxRoot said, excited. "It consists of you, me, and Kate! It's really… Really… A-A-CHOO!" HaxRoot sneezed loudly.

"Oh!" FastGuy pretended like he'd known that. "YES! The Katachi league! … Have you guys considered calling us the 'Omni-Triplets,' though?"

"... But Katachi League sounds cool!" A woman yelled.

"I mean, they're just names…"

"And what if you guys get a fourth member? Omni-Quadruplets is just lame!"

"Oh." FastGuy had not thought about that. "Uh, okay, we'll stick with Katachi league! Thanks, citizen! By the way, do you happen to know where a certain supervillain is attacking the city?"

"Don't you?" The first Passerby asked.

"No."

"Oh. Well, they're busting up Toodles Lane."

"Thanks, citizens! You make this city worth protecting Okay, gotta go!" FastGuy grabbed HaxRoot, and sped off.

()

''Katachi League…" FastGuy mumbled to himself. "I'll admit, it's growing on me."

"There he is!" HaxRoot yelled, jumping out of FastGuy's hands.

In front of the twins was a large robot, rectangular in nature, with large yellow eyes. It was stomping around the street, terrorizing everyone. It made pretty generic beeping noises. FastGuy sprinted around the robot, and climbed up the side of it's leg, scratching holes in it all the while. HaxRoot used his veins to try and climb up the robot's back, but the vines withered away, turning to dust incredibly quickly. Within a few seconds, Haxie fell right back onto the ground, and shouted in pain.

'Okay, you giant pile of junk!" FastGuy yelled, climbing onto the robot's face. "Who are you? What's your big evil plan!? And what's the longest, most fun way to beat you up?!"

In response, the robot slammed it's hand into it's face, squishing FastGuy, before it grabbed him, and threw him into a skyscraper. FastGuy yelled, and crashed through a giant glass window, and into a busy office, everyone in it staring at him in fear and disbelief.

HaxRoot sat up, shaking his head, before he saw the robot's foot coming down on top of him. Enlarging his arms via his vines, HaxRoot pushed against the sole of the robot's foot, desperately trying to stop it from crushing him, but it was no use. He only slowed down it's descent, before FastGuy came speeding under the foot, grabbed HaxRoot, and bolted away from the robot.

"Thanks… Dude." HaxRoot said, weakly. "Let me just… Catch my breath, okay?"

"No way." FastGuy shook his head. "This whole fight you've been completely useless, and almost gotten yourself killed WAY too many times. You're staying here."

"What?!" HaxRoot protested. "You don't make that call, dude!"

HaxRoot stood up, and stared at Matheo, face to face. "I'm gonna help."

FastGuy shook his head, and slapped his Omnitrix symbol.

()

FastGuy's arms transformed into thruster turbines, and his visor became permanently closed. The balls on his soles were also coated in metal, and spikes covered his tail. His Omnitrix symbol grew 4 spikes, resembling an 'X,' and he levitated off of the ground for a few seconds.

()

"Optimal FastGuy!" He said, before shaking his head. "You've got me doing it, too, dude."

He turned around, and took off at an immense speed. Optimal FastGuy hoisted his thrusters behind him, activating them, sending him rocketing towards the robot, before he pointed them at the ground, and he launched off the ground, and delivering a spiked-tail whip into the robot's eyes, causing the eye to combust.

"Aw, geez." HaxRoot muttered. "If only I could find some way to help out."

FastGuy ran back to the robot, and slammed his tail into the robot's ankles, slicing deep into the metal. He ran around the feet, doing this over, and over, until the robot kicked FastGuy back, into HaxRoot, and they both fell on top of each other.

"Ouch." FastGuy whined. "I felt that, a lot."

"We've gotta get the advantage." HaxRoot groaned.

"I might be able to help with that." They heard a voice behind them, and turned to look at where it came from.

There was an 11-year-old brown kid, wearing a red tuxedo, and shorts under it. His hair was styled in two large spikes, and wearing tennis shoes, and looking at them.

"Who are you?" HaxRoot asked.

"What, you haven't heard of me?" The kid shook his head. "Commoners. My name's Billy Billions."

"You mean, the billionaire?!" FastGuy shot up, immediately interested.

"Yes." Billy smirked. "And you're members of the Katachi league."

"Yeah." HaxRoot sighed. "I guess so."

"Okay. Then I'm gonna help you guys out."

"… Wait, why?" FastGuy squinted at Billy.

"Because, I made that mech-suit, I know how to shut it down. The person inside of that thing stole it, so of course I wanna get it back."

"Well, how DO we shut it down?" HaxRoot coughed.

"It's simple." Billy smirked, handing a remote control to FastGuy. "Just press this button, right here, and boom. The whole thing just shuts down."

"Sweet." FastGuy said, pressing the only button on the remote.

As soon as he did, though, the remote beeped, and gave the twins a message.

"Information acquired."

"Hey, dude? I think you gave us the wrong-?" FastGuy turned around to look back at Billy, but he had vanished.

"He's gone?!" HaxRoot asked.

"Grr… He tricked us!"

"Great." HaxRoot rolled his eyes. "Now what are we gonna do now?"

FastGuy looked back at the robot, which was still trying to terrorize the citizens. He sighed, and cracked his knuckles.

"The plan's still the same. I take out the robot, and you stay here, and don't screw anything up, okay?"

"… Fine." HaxRoot sighed.

FastGuy sprinted towards the robot, and tore a mailbox out of the ground, and threw the mailbox at it, exploding in a cloud of envelopes. FastGuy jumped off the side of a building, and came soaring through it, and tail whipped it in it's stomach, and the robot double over in pain. FastGuy jumped off the robot, and fell down behind it, but the robot smacked FastGuy out of the way, and tore a lamppost out of the ground, and threw it into FastGuy, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Oh, geez." HaxRoot said, watching in horror.

FastGuy picked himself up off the floor, and glared at the robot. He ran back at the robot, and ran around it over, and over again, extremely quickly. He ran so fast around it, in fact, that the wind from his speed began to pick up, and create a tornado, which lifted the robot into the air, before running off, causing the tornado to disappear, and the robot began to fall down. While this was happening, FastGuy ran off, turned around, and tail-whipped the robot far off, into the side of a skyscraper, which cracked, and began to fall. In response, the robot grabbed the skyscraper, and used it to hit FastGuy so hard, that he went flying off into the distance, and yelling in pain.

HaxRoot stood up, and stared at his Omnitrix symbol. He needed to change into a different alien, NOW, before Matheo became road pizza. Todd fiddled around with his Omnitrix, before he noticed a small, extremely light grey dot in the middle of his Omnitrix symbol, a little button in the middle. Todd thought of how useful Upgrade would be now, and sighed, before he tapped the button, and emitted yet another flash of blue light.

()

Todd was instantly transformed back into a human, but the Omnitrix symbol remained on his chest. It extruded a ton of liquid, black goo, which covered his entire body, and made him taller. His face disappeared, and was replaced by a glowing blue ring. The bottom half of his body became blue, and sort of blobby. Lastly, dozens of stringy blue tentacles ran along Todd's body, becoming circuitry. He shot a laser in all directions.

()

"UPGRADE!" He yelled. "Huh… Just who I was hoping for…"

Upgrade looked up at the robot, which was holding FastGuy in his hand, and squeezing him. Upgrade grimaced, and transformed himself into liquid, and jumping onto a powerline, before popping back out, and encasing the robot entirely, taking control of it. Upgrade used his new control, to gently place FastGuy back on the ground.

"Did you just change, mid-transformation?!" FastGuy shouted, in disbelief. "HOW?!"

"I'll tell you later." Upgrade said. "First, let's see where this robot came from… Huh?"

"Now what?" FastGuy asked, loudly.

"I think I can see the person inside of the robot! I think it's some kind of-!" Upgrade was interrupted by a massive explosion on his shoulder, forcing him to de-fuse.

"It is I!" A woman soared out of the explosion, grinning.

She was wearing a black trench-coat, with golden lab-goggles, and brown, skin-tight pants. Her hair was slicked down, and covering one of her eyes, which were a deep blue.

"I am Shadow-Queen, you fools!"

"More like Shadow-wein! …-er." Upgrade said, and Matheo snickered.

"Now, then, kiddies!" Shadow-Queen yelled, and thrust her hand out.

Everybody's shadow transformed into an odd blob with thousands of hands, two of which grabbed FastGuy and Upgrade, while the rest grabbed passerby's, or pieces of the destroyed mech. The free hands began reassembling the mech.

"Your little field trip has come to an end, children!" The Shadow-Queen grinned. "I'll use my shadows to get you petulant humans out of the way, for good! After that, I'll cover the planet from the sun, throttling Earth into a permanent night!"

"Why, though?" Upgrade asked, confused. "What possible reason could you have for trying to do that?"

"The reason is YOUR FACE!" The Shadow-Queen yelled. "Your face is enough to drive me to such insanity!"

She manipulated the shadow-beast to slam Upgrade and FastGuy into the ground. They both groaned in pain.

"Ow… Tell me, Upgrade, has that whole 'talking the bad guy out of being bad' tactic ever worked for you?"

"Maybe… Once... " Upgrade replied. "... As GreyMatter…"

"I knew it!" FastGuy shouted, kicking the ground.

"Face it, boys." Shadow-Queen grinned. "You've lost!"

"Don't count on it!" Upgrade shot a blue laser out of his eye, glazing Shadow-Queen's shoulder.

"Gah!" Shadow-Queen dropped the Twins on the ground.

"Nice going, bro!" FastGuy said speeding away. "But I'm gonna have to bulk up if I wanna beat this moonlit Git!"

"Is that even a word?!" Upgrade yelled back.

"Just tell me how to swap forms, dude!"

"Fine!" Upgrade said, pointing to his Omnitrix symbol. "You just concentrate on who you want, and tap the middle of your Omnitrix symbol!"

"Got it!" FastGuy shouted, tapping his symbol, to become a large, orange beast with the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder.

"Nice!" Upgrade gave him a thumbs up, before upgrading a car next to him.

The upgraded car grew wings, and soared into the air, before he de-fused, sending the car flying down, into the Shadow-Queen, and exploding. The smoke faded, revealing she had made a large shadow-shield. She glared at the twins.

"That's it." She glared. "I'm gonna teach you kids a lesson."

"And we're gonna ditch!" Upgrade shot back, as DogGuy ran past him, and scratched at the Shadow-Queen.

"Back off, Cujo!" She yelled, and Judo flipped DogGuy into a dumpster.

Upgrade looked around, and got an idea. He ran over to Shadow-Queen, and waved his arms around.

"Hey, crazy!" He taunted. "You're shadows are pretty tough, but you seem like you've never even been in a gym!"

"The first thing I'm gonna do when I catch you guys is teach you how to make a good comeback!" She cracked her knuckles and punched at Upgrade, but he moved so her hand went right through him. "What the?"

"Love to stay and chat, really." Upgrade waved. "But I've got things to do, places to go, people to meet, y'know, the works!"

Upgrade jumped at a traffic light, and upgraded it, as Shadow-Queen stomped after him. Upgrade transformed the pole into a giant cannon, with a yellow piece of glass on it's front. Shadow-Queen recoiled slightly in surprise.

"Say 'Cheese!' " Upgrade yelled, and fired a gigantic beam of light into Shadow-Queen, disintegrating her as she screamed.

"And that's how you light up a room!" Upgrade said, triumphantly, as his symbol beeped yellow, returning him to normal.

DogGuy eventually managed to claw his way out of the dumpster, and crawled over to Todd, extremely pale-looking. He poked his symbol, and was also transformed back to human. Matheo sneezed, loudly.

"Hey, Matheo!" Todd said, better than ever. "I think going Upgrade cured me! I'm great!"

"Cool." Matheo said, sniffling. "But I definitely caught your bug, dude. I couldn't see, or sense ANYTHING the whole time!"

Todd patted Matheo on the back. "It's cool, bro! … Besides, we still have 1 and a half games of BattleShip to finish!" Todd grinned at his brother.

"Oh, NOO!" Matheo yelled, horrified, as the twins walked back to their house, Matheo crying all the while.


	11. O11: Sky Plundering!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matheo is temporarily adopted into a group of sky pirates, right before they're attacked by even more rival pirates!

Matheo Harrison was the kind of guy you'd call to repair your television, or your refrigerator when it stops working. He knew machines like the back of his hand, it was just his thing. He had no clue why it was tough for anyone to get a grip on. Machines only look like they'd be complicated, but in reality, the wiring in the back is just really messy, or there might, there MIGHT, be a safeguard implemented in the device to stop any old random weirdo from tearing open your local toaster, and transforming it into a cannon that shoots super-heated metal at people. (Which, for some reason, was extremely easy to accomplish, despite the fact that everybody keeps telling you otherwise.)

"It's all just the easiest thing in the world." Matheo muttered to himself. "Especially now, with my Optitrix."

Matheo mainly used the Optitrix as a light source, though it also doubled as an infinite power source, as well. It had quite a few other functions, as well, such as acting as a stop-watch, in the incredibly rare case he needed such a tool. But even without his Optitrix, Matheo was just… Kind of a genius, really, at least when it came to technology. And since Tech bleeds into medicine, one could even call him experienced in biology, though it was hardly that simple.

"Are you almost done, dude?" Kate asked, reading a novel, featuring a trash-can who a couple of kids made come to life. "After you two idiots set that pizza on fire, and took out the oven, we haven't had anything to eat all week."

Kate was sitting on a plastic container in the garage, staring at Matheo while he fixed the oven in the driveway. The oven itself was propped up on 4 sets of bricks, which were holding it off the ground. Matheo was laying under it, messing with it's wiring underneath the oven.

"What's your point, mortal?" Matheo grunted, taking out the busted heating ring.

"My POINT is, that I'd prefer to not have to wait even LONGER for another meal."

"Cool."

"Not cool, can you hurry that up?"

"Well, sorry missy, but I would have gotten around to it sooner, if Todd didn't give me that stupid virus!"

"Why didn't you just go Upgrade, and fix it, then?"

"I'm sorry, do you mean 'TechGuy?' " Matheo asked, annoyed.

"Whatever, the black blobby dude with the circuitry on him that shoots lasers, that guy."

"Well, I tried that, but I accidentally sneezed all over the Optitrix, so… You know… I didn't want to see if that would screw it up, so I just… Uh… Didn't."

"Dude, you know that wouldn't do anything."

"How would YOU know?! Yours is on the back of your neck, how would you even SNEEZE on that?!"

"I have my ways." Kate smirked.

"Uh-huh, well, we're not talking about the Amazing Kate, capiche?"

"Are you even close to finishing, though?"

"No! Fixing an oven that literally EXPLODED doesn't take a couple seconds!"

Suddenly, the door to the garage was flung open, revealing Todd, who was grinning like an idiot. "Good news, guys!"

"DUDE!" Matheo yelled, hitting his head on the oven. "What's your malfunction?!"

"Oh, I'll tell you my malfunction." Todd grinned, holding up a brochure for a newly completed zoo. "We're going to the local Denver Zoo! It just opened up on Gola street! That's, like 8 miles from here!"

"So what're you thinking?" Kate asked, as she stood up. "We just fly down there as aliens, or something?"

"I've actually been working on something to fix that problem." Matheo rolled out from under the oven. "I call it the 'Omni-Kix' feature. It's like a suit of armor for our human forms."

"Really?" Todd asked, confused. "How does it work?"

"Well, it's still in it's conceptual phase, but the point is, the function projects super-suits onto our human bodies. The thing about that is, I actually need the physical suits to model it after. So… I had my friend Mutt tailor us some costumes!"

Matheo walked over to a rusty metal closet, and typed a code into the keypad. The closet whirred to life, and out sprung a series of 3 suits. They were all mainly black, but the secondary colors varied depending on the suit, those being red, blue, and green. Kate squealed, and ran over to the green one, before pulling it off the rack.

"Also, don't worry about your clothes. You can just throw that on over them." Matheo pointed out.

"Awesome." Kate grinned.

Kate's suit had a large, black hourglass symbol on it's chest, with green circuitry running over the rest. It came with two green and black gloves, as well as black boots with green soles. Finally, Kate put on a black helmet, with a green hourglass symbol on the front, and a large, green visor, which covered her entire face, acting as a one-way mirror.

"That's so cool!" Todd said, jumping up and down. "My turn!"

Todd threw on his suit, which was near-identical to Kate's, but with blue parts instead of green. Once it was on, he grinned. Matheo smirked, and put on his suit, which had red parts.

"Okay." Hyu said, striking a pose. "This is super cool! You even designed ports for our Omnitrixes!"

"Duh." Besu said. "The suits are also gonna have a variety of other features, such as the ability to breathe underwater, or in space, lasers guns on the hands and magnetic properties for the gloves and boots."

"Yeah, yeah, cool. But you haven't actually added that stuff?" Yunai said, putting her hand on her hip.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"So it doesn't matter." Hyu finished, activating his Splicatrix.

"One more thing." Matheo cautioned. "The Splicatrix won't recognize the suits as viable clothing when you're transformed, since you're already wearing clothes under it.

"... So?" Yunai asked, cocking her head to the side.

"... So-o-o, Your aliens are gonna look pretty much the same, but you'll still be wearing the suits when you transform back."

"Cool! Disappearing super-suits WOULD be awkward… Can we go now?"

"Fine." Besu grumbled.

Hyu grinned, dialing in DragonFly, and slapping his core down, and shortly becoming engulfed in blue light afterwords.

()

Hyu's uniform evaporated, leaving him in his regular clothes. Hyu's Splicatrix sank into hi skin, and his skin became overrun with navy-blue scales. His eyes became large, yellow, and pupil-less. His teeth sank into his gums, which became tough, and 4 extra legs tore out of his waist. Two large wings ripped out of Hyu's back, and a large tail flew out of his hips. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his left Bicep, and Hyu grinned, smoke puffing out of his nostrils.

()

"DRAGONFLY!" He shouted, before soaring off into the sky.

Yunai smirked, and grew a large red-and-black hoverboard from her feet. She rode this off, after Todd, while Besu stayed behind and looked at them. Those 2 never seemed to appreciate his machinery, no matter how much work he put into it, all THEY ever cared about was their Omnitrixes. Then, Besu got an idea. He would prove to those guys, that he was far cooler, and way more useful than a couple watches. He hit a button on the side of the wall, and it opened, revealing a motorcycle, with mounted machineguns, and boosters on it's back. Besu got onto the cycle, and drove out of the garage.

"I'll show you guys." Besu frowned.

He flipped a lever on the bike's mainframe, and the boosters exploded behind him, sending Besu flying off, into the horizon. He was doing his best to avoid the houses and cars flying at him, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he screwed up. Knowing this, Besu punched another button, and two metallic wings thrust out of the cycle's sides, and Besu's cycle began levitating off the ground. Looking forward, Besu quickly realized that he was heading straight for a house, so he turned his cycle completely to the side barely missing it. Besu had finally managed to clear the neighborhood, and now it was just a case of catching up to his siblings.

"It's… Really… Windy up here…" Besu grunted, squinting his eyes so he could see something. "... And cold… should've brought… A helmet…"

"Besu!" DragonFly yelled from ahead. "You made it!"

"Yeah! … What'd I miss?"

"Not much, but you were about to miss our landing!" Yunai shouted. "Hey, speaking of which, what's up with the motorcycle?!"

"It's cool, isn't it?!" Besu screamed.

"Not really." DragonFly said.

"HEY!" Besu tried to catch up to him, but couldn't. "You wanna say that again?!"

"No time! We're landing now!" Yunai pointed down, before she de-mutated her wings, and fell down, into the clouds.

"Sweet!" DragonFly said, and fell down with her.

"Ugh." Besu said, before slowly hovering his motorcycle down after them. "I'm on my way guys… Just wait a little longer…"

()

It had been 5 minutes, by now, and Besu was still descending. He knew Todd and Kate were probably already in the zoo by now, and probably threw their costumes into the dumpster for 'safekeeping,' or something. Or maybe they just wore them, and were all like: "Hi mister, me and my brother are superheroes, free tickets please!" And signing autographs for everybody. But here was Besu, sitting on his motorcycle. Alone. Cool, but alone.

"ARR!" A voice yelled in the distance. "It be a passerby life-boat! Bring 'em in, boys!"

"What the-?" Besu asked, before he heard a cannon fire, sending an anchor attached to a chain into his bike, tearing a hole in it "HEY! That cost me!"

The chain drew back, taking Besu with it, and sending him flying onto the ship, yelling. Besu was holding on to the handlebars, but his grip wasn't gonna last much longer. Thankfully, he was already on the ship a few seconds later, surrounded by a group of men, wearing dirty, hole-filled shirts, grinning at him with their yellow teeth. Besu gulped, and looked at them.

"Uh… Hi, guys?" He said, sweating. "Any chance you're heading down to the zoo? Because, I REALLY need to catch up to my siblings, and-"

"And who be this?!" A loud, gruff voice boomed from behind the crowd.

"A random passerby who isn't…" Besu suddenly had a realization. "Are you guys pirates… In the sky?"

A large man, wearing a torn, black leather jacket, and a parrot on his shoulder forced his way through the crowd, and stared at Besu. He was wearing a hat with a skull and crossbones on the front, and an eyepatch on his right eye.

"Name's Captain Sam. And yes. We're pirates, in the sky."

"Don't you mean, 'Yar?' "Besu joked.

"I mean 'yes,' lad."

"Ah. Obviously… I'm Besu by the way." He stuck his hand out, and Captain Sam shook it.

"Yes, we sky-pirates are a rare breed these days. You don't oft find scallywags who also happen to have incredible technological genius… And I just do the accent for fun, not-"

"I figured that was the case." Besu interrupted, putting his hand up. "You weren't exactly consistent."

"Arr… I get that one quite a number o' times."

"Okay, NOW you're just hamming it up."

The crew all chuckled slightly, and Besu grinned. Todd and Kate rarely laughed at his jokes. He already felt a million times more comfortable here then he EVER had at his own house.

"Speaking of which, what's with the costume?" A lanky man with a blue bandana asked, pointing at Besu.

"Uh… I could ask you guys the same thing, AmIRite?"

Nobody responded. A suspicious stare began to manifest on everybody's face. Besu gulped.

"Uh, tough crowd. But, er, yeah. It's my super-suit. I'm kind of a big deal back down on land."

"He's a SUPERHERO?!" A Teen shouted, drawing a pocketknife. "I knew we couldn't trust him!"

"No, guys, I'm not here to-!"

"Is that true, lad?" Captain Same said, looking down at Besu. "Are you here to try and take us down?"

"WHAT?!" Besu put his hands up, and began backing away. "Me?! Never! I-I-I'm not even really happy being a super-HERO, you know? I'd much rather be a… A Super-Pirate! Yeah!"

"So." Captain Sam said, grimly. "You want to be a crew member, on The SS Saint, eh?"

"Uh… Yes?"

"Then he's gotta win the participation duel, right Cap'n?!" A man wearing a jacket without an undershirt asked, excitedly.

"Correct, Larry!" Captain Sam unsheathed a large, electric sword. "If you wish to join our crew, you must win a duel with the captain! That shouldn't be too hard, now, should it super-lad?"

"Uh… I guess." Besu shrugged, and activated his Optitrix, selected DiamondGuy, and slammed down his core.

()

The Splicatrix sank into Besu's arm, and red and grey metal plating covered his body, as well as black rubber stretchers on his waist. A red hood appeared on his head, and Besu's face became coated as well, leaving 4 red eyes. Finally, an Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and tubes of water starting from his back, plugged into his arms. He shot water in every direction, while he shouted.

()

The light faded, and WaterGuy looked at himself. "That ain't right." He said, before he saw Captain Sam charging at him. "Oh boy."

"Your shapeshifting can't help you now, boy!" He shouted, thrusting the sword at WaterGuy, who dodged out of the way, grunting. "Unless that form's supposed to scare me, I can't even figure out what you're supposed to USE it for!"

"To help you walk the PLANK!" WaterGuy yelled, and shot a large blast out from his hands, knocking Captain Sam into the mast.

"Not bad, lad." Captain Sam said, steadying himself. "But if you'd like to win, you're gonna have to do better than that!"

"Oh, I will!" WaterGuy shot back, using his water blasts to shoot himself off the ground.

"What in Tarnation…?" Captain Sam asked, following WaterGuy around the sky, thoroughly confounded.

WaterGuy looped back around, and angled himself, so that his foot was sent directly into Captain Sam's stomach. The captain guffawed, before he was sent spiraling back, and almost fell over the railing, he looked back, to see WaterGuy, who had grabbed the Electric Sword, and pointed it at the captain, smirking.

"I think we're done here."

"Aye." The captain said, and got up, chuckling. "I've seen winners before, but never have I seen such a thorough floor-wiping before."

"Ah, come on. I'm right here." WaterGuy said, tossing the captain his sword.

"Congratulations, Mr. Super-Lad. You're an honorary member of our crew, now."

"You mean, I get to be a real sky-pirate?!" WaterGuy asked in awe. "I get to sail around the skies with other geniuses, and take no regard of the rules, and plunder innocent establishments for loot?! … *gasp.* Do I get to get scurvy?!"

"Er… No." Captain Sam said, awkwardly. "I mean, we're sky-pirates, but we're the perfectly legal kind... Though the scurvy part is optional. We don't really want to steal from anybody."

"Or start any fights!" A crew-member piped up.

"Exactly!" Captain Sam agreed.

"Oh." WaterGuy groaned. "Well, what DO you do? Do you practice a legal form of plundering?"

"It's mostly roleplay." Captain Sam tapped the back of his neck, and split in two, as a small nerdy kid walked outside of it.

The other pirates did the same, and soon WaterGuy was surrounded by small kids, probably a few years younger than he was. He looked around himself in horror. These weren't genius pirates at all. They were just a bunch of kids.

"I wanna go back." WaterGuy said in horror.

"Can we at least keep your bike? … Oh, my name's Gerald, by the way." The former Captain Sam stuck out his hand.

"What?! No, I mean, I wanted to join you guys because I thought you were COOL, not because you were smart!"

"But aren't you smart, too, mister?"

"… I don't know, but I guess I was just being too rash trying to run off and join a gang of pirates." WaterGuy sighed. "I'll bet that feeling's just making itself real right now."

"I feel you." A ginger girl said, pulling on his sleeve. "I haven't seen my mommy in days."

WaterGuy shook his head. He finally thought he found a lot of people who were just like him. Both smart, AND cool. But he couldn't stand Todd and Kate because they were too cool, but not too smart. These kids were too much of the opposite. Maybe he'd just never find people who were like him. Suddenly, the ship lit up, and there was a loud 'boom.'

"Sir we're being attacked! … By REAL Sky-Pirates!" A blonde kid screamed, scampering back to his pirate suit, and sealing it back up.

"Man your stations, men!" Gerald shouted, and hopped back into the body of Captain Sam, sprinting back to the main deck.

"What about me?" WaterGuy asked, in confusion.

"You do whatever!" One of the pirates shouted. "You're not part of the crew anymore, right?!"

"… I guess I'm not."

"Then you don't take orders from the Cap'n! So scram!"

WaterGuy looked at the enemy ship, which was far larger than the one he was on. He had a chance to leave, but he already knew he wasn't gonna take it. WaterGuy shouted out, and flew into the air, shooting at the enemy ship. They fired dozens of cannonballs at him, but WaterGuy stuck his hands out, and forced them out of the way with his water, sending them far off into the distance. He grabbed on to one, and heard it ticking, so he jumped away, only to see it explode seconds later. WaterGuy flew far above the ship, and tapped the middle of his Omnitrix symbol, and emitting an explosion of red light.

()

Matheo was reverted to normal, however the Omnitrix symbol remained on his body. Diamonds engulfed him entirely, and his eyes were flipped over, becoming a yellow type of crystal. Two large, diamond spikes tore out of his back. DiamondGuy turned around, and flexed.

()

DiamondGuy fell from, the sky, into the ship, causing the floor to crack, and the pirates to fly up, into the sky, before they fell back down onto the floor, shouting in pain. DiamondGuy cracked his knuckles, morphing his fist into a hammer, and smacking a pirate into the mast, so hard that it cracked in half, and fell off the ship, into the clouds below.

"I guess that guy didn't get his Mast-er's degree… Nah, still gotta work on that one." DiamondGuy said, awkwardly.

There was large blast heard behind him, and DiamondGuy whirled around, only to be blasted by a large red laser. He yelled in agony, and was sent flying into the wooden wall of the ship, and fell on the floor. The captain of the enemy's ship, clothed in a dark red coat, and an orange beard walked over to him, the laser cannon replacing his right arm.

"And what are you, huh? Some kind of sky-monster?" He asked, a dull confusion is his voice.

"I guess you could put it that way." DiamongGuy said, clutching his stomach. "How 'bout you? Are you just another kid in disguise?"

"Hardly." The man grimaced. "The name's Captain Moby. And I'm the one who's gonna put you to sleep."

He aimed the cannon at DiamondGuy one last time, and he closed his eyes, before an electronic sword was thrown into the cannon, causing it to explode. DiamondGuy opened his eyes, to see the crew of the SS Saint swinging over to the enemy ship, and charging at the raiding pirates. DiamondGuy grinned, before turning back to Captain Moby.

"Looks like the cavalry's here." DiamondGuy said, grinning.

Captain Moby pointed his hand at DiamondGuy's crew. "Keep them off my tail!" He yelled. "I've got a monster to finish off!"

"I'd hardly call myself the monster!" DiamondGuy shouted.

DiamondGuy forced his hand onto his abdomen, healing it with more diamonds, before turning back to Captain Moby, who was already several feet above him, holding an electronic, sparkling axe, and swinging it at DiamondGuy, who created a large Diamond shield, and used it to parry Moby away. Captain Moby landed on the edge of the ship's wall. He ran along it, up to the ship's wheel, and jumped off that, and threw his ax at DiamondGuy. The axe landed in DiamondGuy's arm, who yelled in pain. He tried to pull it out of his arm, and fell to the ground in weakness.

"Think about it like this, crystal-man." Moby said, standing over DiamondGuy. "You're just another monster. And the fact that you speak English doesn't change that. And, you'll make a perfect trophy!"

"I'm giving you… One last chance… To take your crew, and… skedaddle off to China, or something… "

"Unfortunately for you." Captain Moby said, pulling the energy axe from DiamondGuy's arm, and raising it above his head. "You're threats are pointless!"

He thrust the sword downward, almost hitting him, but Captain Sam jumped in the way, the axe hitting his neck, and electrifying his entire suit, causing it to spring open, and send Gerald rolling out onto the side of the ship's deck, unconscious.

"No…" DiamondGuy growled, turning back to Captain Moby, who was just confused.

"Odd." Moby said. "I didn't expect there to be a kid inside of my life-time nemesis… Oh well. You're weak, and he's knocked out… Eh, it hardly matters."

DiamondGuy grabbed Moby's face, and flung him through the door to the Captain's Quarters, before he rolled over, and sealed the room shut with diamonds. After that, DiamondGuy rushed over to Captain Sam, and held him in his arms.

"Gerald! Gerald, are you okay?!" DiamondGuy asked, his Omnitrix symbol beeping, and returning him to normal. "Say something!"

"… Something." Gerald muttered weakly, and chuckled.

"Okay, you're fine." Matheo deadpanned, and dropped Gerald instantly.

Matheo looked around. With Captain Moby stuck in his quarters, and the SS Saint's crew outnumbering their crew, the raiding pirates kneeled to the ground, and surrendered. Matheo fist-pumped, and cheered. He looked to the crowd, and grinned.

()

As the ship neared the ground, Matheo turned around to say his goodbyes to the crew.

"Are you sure you can't stay?" The now fixed Captain Sam asked. "We could definitely use your skills."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Matheo chuckled. "I gotta go find my stupid siblings before they, like, blow up the zoo, or something."

"Well, if you ever need anything, you know how to reach us right? Just call the number on the paper Sam gave you."

"Got it." Matheo said.

"One last thing?" A pirate asked. "What about your bike? What're you gonna do with that?"

"That thing?" Matheo shook his head. "You keep it. You're probably gonna find some better way to use it than I will."

"Seriously?!" The pirate shook his hands in the air. "You are the best, bro!"

"Thanks." Matheo waved goodbye, as the ship closed itself, and hovered into the air. "See you guys around!"

"Farewell, Matheo! You truly were an epic pirate, bro!" They shouted, as the ship soared off into the sky.

Matheo smirked, and turned around to see Todd and Kate, who were walking out of the zoo, holding a lion on a leash, and they both waved to Matheo.

"Hey, big M!" Kate shouted. "Where were you?"

"Oh, you know." Matheo said, shrugging. "Off with some sky-pirates. You?"

"You don't wanna know." Kate said, shivering. "But hey, we got this sweet lion out of it!"

"Awe, come on!" Matheo pleaded. "Tell me!"

"Maybe later." Todd winked at him.

"… Why are you guys like this?" Matheo said, rolling his eyes.


	12. O12: Class of Zombozo!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd and Kate's day at the zoo is suddenly complicated by the Splicatrix's random mode, Missles, and an evil clown known as 'Zombozo!' ... And a pet lion named Mr. Toodles.

Kate Harrison was currently sitting in the garage, watching her twin brother, Matheo Harrison, fixing their oven, which both he and her other twin brother, Todd Harrison, had managed to blow up, while Todd was sick. Kate was sitting on a plastic container of clothes. It was hardly comfortable, but she didn't expect to have been sitting here for so long. Kate had picked up the first book she saw, (unfortunately, it was the dictionary.), and had become even more bored. She had made it all the way to the E's, when she heard Matheo muttering to himself.

"It's all the easiest thing in the world…" He mumbled, messing with the underside of the oven on some kind of skateboard. "And that's not even mentioning my Optitrix.."

Kate groaned, knowing if she didn't interrupt Matheo's monologue now, he'd never finish the oven. "Hey, dude, are you almost done with that? After you two idiots set the oven on fire, while trying to cook a pizza, we haven't had anything to eat ALL week!" Kate's stomach grumbled after she finished speaking.

"Yeah?" Matheo pushed himself out from under the oven, grease covering his face, and tossing a heating ring with a large hole melted into it into a pile of junk. "What's your point, mortal?"

"My POINT is, I'd prefer to not have to wait longer for something ELSE to eat."

"Whatever." Matheo grabbed a socket wrench, and pushed himself back under the oven.

"Not 'whatever!' " Kate said, annoyed. "I just asked if you could work any faster! I mean, you're a genius, and it's taking you forever to fix some oven!"

"Well, it's Todd's fault!" Matheo said, coughing. "I would've started sooner, but HE got me sick, so blame him."

"Well, why didn't you try to cure yourself by turning into that 'Upgrade' guy?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you mean 'TechGuy?' I think that's what you meant."

"You know who I'm talking about, the black, blobby guy with circuitry on him. That guy."

"Well…" Matheo paused. "I mean, I tried, but I sneezed on my Optitrix so… I didn't want it to… You know… Malfunction."

"Dude, come on." Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure nothing would happen."

"Oh yeah?! And just how would YOU know?! Your stupid thing is on the back of your neck! How would you sneeze on THAT?!" Matheo snapped.

"Oh, I have my ways…" Kate smirked.

"Yeah, okay, well we're not talking about the Amazing Kate, are we?"

"Okay, who cares? And are you even close to finishing that?"

"NO!" Matheo shouted. "Fixing an oven that literally EXPLODED doesn't just take a couple seconds!"

"But it's been 3 hours." Kate said, confused.

Before Matheo could respond, The door to the garage was flung open dramatically, as Todd jumped onto the oven, and landed in front of Kate. As he did this, there was a loud 'bang' on the bottom of the oven.

"Good news guys!" Todd shouted, holding up a brochure.

Matheo pushed himself out from under the oven, rubbing his head. "Dude, what's your malfunction!?"

"Oh, It's no malfunction!" Todd grinned, pointing to the brochure, which showed off a new zoo that Kate had never heard of before. "We're going to the local Denver Zoo that just opened on Gola street. That's like, 8 miles from here!"

"So what're you thinking?" Kate asked, crossing her arms. "What, do we do, just fly down there as aliens, or something?"

"Well ,it's a good thing one of us thinks ahead." Matheo said. "I've actually been working on something to fix that problem. I call it the 'Omni-Kix' feature. It's like a suit of armor for our human forms, if you guys couldn't tell."

"Really?" Todd asked. "How would that even work?"

"Well... I-it's still in it's conceptual phase, but the point is, the function projects super-suits onto our human bodies. The thing about that is, I actually need the physical suits to model it after. So… I had my friend Mutt tailor us some costumes!"

Matheo typed a code into the keypad, on an old torn-up closet. As he did, a clothing rack with 3 suits sprung out of it. The first suit was black with some green, while the second one had some blue, and he last had some red. Kate gasped, and walked over to the green one, before pulling it off the rack.

"Also, don't worry about your clothes. The suit's made to just be thrown on over them, so you can just through that on over them." Matheo pointed out.

"Neat." Kate grinned.

Kate's suit had a large, black hourglass symbol on it's chest, with green circuitry running over the rest. It came with two green and black gloves, as well as black boots with green soles. Finally, Kate put on a black helmet, with a green hourglass symbol on the front, and a large, green visor, which covered her entire face, acting as a one-way mirror.

"That's so cool!" Todd said, jumping up and down. "My turn!"

Todd threw on his suit, which was near-identical to Kate's, but with blue parts instead of green. Once it was on, he grinned. Matheo smirked, and put on his suit, which had red parts.

"Okay." Hyu said, waving his arms around, and jumping all over the place. "This is super cool! You even designed ports for our Omnitrixes!"

"Obviously." Besu said. "The suits are also gonna have a variety of other features, such as the ability to breathe underwater, or in space, lasers guns on the hands and magnetic properties for the gloves and boots."

"Cool!" Yunai said, pumping her fist in the air. "How do we do that stuff?"

"Well… I haven't actually added any of that… But, I-"

"So it doesn't matter." Hyu finished, activating his Splicatrix.

"One more thing." Besu cautioned. "The Splicatrix won't recognize the suit as viable clothing when you're transformed, since you're already wearing clothes under it.

"So what?" Yunai asked.

"So, Hyu's aliens are gonna look pretty much the same, but his suit will still be on when he transforms back."

"Yawn." Yunai said, bored.

"I mean, I guess super-suits disappearing would be awkward, but I assumed you had it taken care of that." Hyu shrugged.

Hyu activated his Splicatrix, and dialed in 'DragonFly,' slamming his cored down as soon as it popped up. There was a flash of bright, blue light. It faded, revealing:

"DRAGONFLY!" He yelled, and leaped into the air.

Yunai laughed, and grew an electronic hoverboard from her feet, and used this to launch into the sky after to Hyu.

()

Yunai was extremely cold, in the air, thanks to the lower atmosphere. She mutated her arms into those of HeatBlast's, and used the warmth from that transformation to keep her cozy. She saw DragonFly ahead of her, who was just plain showing off. He opened his maw, and breathed fire into a cloud that was coming at him, flying through the smoky part of the cloud, and grinning. Yunai turned her thrusters at DragonFly, and blasted him away, while they both laughed.

"Hey, maybe if we really try, we could make going to the ZOO fun!"

"Yeah." DragonFly said, in though. "If I'm being honest, I've kind of got alternative motives for going."

"Your friends?" Yunai asked, sympathetically.

"Yeah." DragonFly said. "School just hasn't been the same without those guys."

"I get it." Yunai said. "I made a friend of mine pretty mad at me recently. I burst out laughing, and she thought I was laughing at her."

"Didn't you explain it to her?" DragonFly asked, concerned.

"Of course I did, I share a desk with her in History." Yunai shook her head. "But she won't get over it. I'm worried there might be something more to it, but she won't tell me ANYTHING."

"Sounds complicated."

"Friends can be complicated."

DragonFly laughed. "You can say that again."

Yunai smiled, before she and Todd both heard an engine purring behind them. They both turned around, to see Besu riding some kind of Sky-Cycle after them, shivering, and waving at them. Yunai and DragonFly slowed down a little to allow him to catch up.

"Besu!" DragonFly yelled. "You made it!"

"YEAH!" Besu shouted, his teeth chattering. "Hey, what'd I miss?!"

"Not much!" Yunai lied. "Though, you were about to miss the landing! … Speaking of which, what's up with the Sky-Cycle?"

"It's cool, huh?" Besu yelled back.

DragonFly and Yunai both looked at each other. "Not really!" They said, in unison.

"HEY!" Besu shouted, falling behind. "... You guys wanna say that again!?"

"No time!" Yunai said. "It's time to land!"

Yunai demutated her wings, and freefell into the cloud. DragonFly tucked his wings, and dived after her, leaving Besu to slowly descend after them.

()

"This is AWESOME!" DragonFly yelled, doing backflips.

"I KNOW!" Yunai shouted back, doing corkscrews.

The twins continued skydiving, but Yunai noticed something odd. From the zoo there was a small 'pang,' and then,. A projectile shooting at them. Yunai shouted, and mutated her arms into PaperCut's, and reinforced the, making them strong enough to slow the missile's descent. DragonFly opened his wings, shooting into the sky, before he soared back down, grabbing the missile with his legs, and throwing it back at the zoo, but the missile exploded in mid-air instead.

"Talk about a tough reception!" Yunai yelled. "I think we're under fire!"

"You think?!" DragonFly shouted, grabbing Kate, and flying straight down.

"More missiles!" Kate shouted, mutating her feet into HeatBlast's, and using those to propel DragonFly and herself forwards.

"I noticed!" DragonFly shot fire into a missile, and it exploded in mid-air.

"Where is a zoo even getting the funds for missiles?!"

"Something tells me we're not being fired at by the zoo! Keep going!"

A few seconds later, the twins landed behind a building, close to the zoo. In the alleyway, they both looked at the missiles, as Hyu transformed himself back to normal. The missiles stopped firing. They both sighed in relief.

"Ugh." Yunai said. "Finally."

"So what do we do with the suits?"

Yunai snapped her fingers. "I'll store them in the Unitrix."

"You can DO that?"

"It's worth a try. Since I'm pretty much a huge version of it, there's gotta be someplace it can store objects. Take off the suit."

Todd and Kate both took off their Omni-Kix's, and laid them on the ground. Kate stared at the suits, and tapped 2 fingers to her Unitrix chip, causing 2 green rays to shoot from her eyes, disintegrating them, and absorbing the suits into the Unitrix.

"Epic!" Todd cheered. "Now I know where to keep my change when some kids try and bully me!"

"Not happening." Kate rolled her eyes. "We're just doing this until Matheo fixes the suits."

"But you're, like, a walking storage system!"

"Doesn't matter." Kate shook her head. "You're not gonna shove your loose change in my head."

"Lame." Todd groaned, and the 2 left the alley.

()

"Tickets, please." An old woman from behind the ticket booth said, holding a stamp-maker.

"Oh." Todd felt around his pockets, before shrugging.

"This is our first time, ma'am." Kate said.

"Do you have any… Guardians, that could help you out, little ones?"

"No, but we have 30 bucks. Could you just have us buy tickets?"

"No, sweetie, you order the tickets online."

"But can we buy the tickets in PERSON?"

"No. Sorry honey." The old woman leaned above the twins. "NEXT!"

"URGH!" Kate grinded her teeth. "Great! Now what?!"

"We sneak in." Todd held up the Splicatrix. "That's what we do."

"How?" Kate cocked her head. "People are totally gonna see."

"Well, maybe." Todd thought for a second. "What if we appeared in the bathroom? Nobody would notice."

"Yeah, good plan, dude, but HOW would we get there? None of your guys can teleport."

"Then it's time to find someone who can." Todd said, activating his Splicatrix.

He grabbed Kate's arm, and they slid into the bushes, next to the fence of the zoo. The holographic ring popped up, but Todd pressed the 'options' icon. He scrolled down the menu, and found the 'codes' app. He activated it, and found a row of 10 zeros. Rearranged the numbers in different combinations, squinting at them.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked.

"Gonna try to unlock a new alien. Hopefully one that can teleport."

"Sweet." Kate grinned. "This is gonna be easy."

"I dunno." Todd shook his head. "Something tells me this menu isn't just for aliens… What the-?"

Todd arranged the code '7122693,' and as soon as he entered it, the Splicatrix beeped, and emitted a message. "Randomizer mode unlocked. Randomizer mode activated."

"Randomizer…?" Todd gulped, before there was a bright flash of light.

"Upgrade?" He asked, confused.

"Wait!" Kate thought. "This is good! Boost me over, then turn into liquid, and slide under the fence!"

"Okay…" Upgrade said, tossing Kate over the fence, and sliding under the fence.

"Huh." He said, thinking. "Well, as long as it just turns me back to human, We'll be fine."

"Yeah, maybe, but what about everyone else at the zoo?"

"Oh, crap." Upgrade said.

Upgrade became liquified, and slid into the boys bathroom, and opened the door.

"Here's the plan." Kate said, checking her shoulder to make sure nobody was looking. "I'm gonna go try and figure out what those missiles were about, while you figure out this whole 'Randomizer' thing, and find your friends, which I assume you knew were here."

"Got it." Todd said, giving a thumbs-up, as Kate slammed the door shut.

Kate ran back to the main part of the zoo, and saw what looked to be a circus. It was the largest building here, so it could have easily covered any missile-launching device.

"That's gotta be where it is." Kate said, and ran over to the circus, quickly.

()

"Kate!" A transmission from Todd had connected with the Unitrix. "Kate, can you hear me?"

"Yeah? Kate asked. "Could you keep it down? I'm right in front of where I think those missiles came from, what is it?"

"I just transformed!"

"No way." Kate sighed. "Todd, it hasn't even been 10 minutes."

"I know!" Todd said. "I tried to press the middle of my symbol to turn me back to human, but it just turned me into another alien! This time it's BlitzMouth!"

"That's… Bad." Kate gulped. "Maybe just wait it out. Hopefully, the Randomizer doesn't just keep you alien, right?"

"I'm pretty sure it's an app on the Splicatrix. If I could turn back to human, I might be able to turn it off, but how long am I gonna have to wait for THAT to happen?!"

"Look, just wait it out, okay?!" Kate said. "I'm gonna be in a crowd of people, so try not to call me again, unless you wanna blow our cover, please?!"

"Okay…" The transmission ended.

Kate sighed. This day was getting complicated. But, she was finally standing outside of the circus. Walking inside of it, she saw that it was completely empty, and dark. It looked like it was closed, but there was nothing keeping her out. Kate gulped, and continued into the tent, cautiously. Then, there was a loud tear, and BlitzMouth fell from the ceiling, and landed in front of Kate.

"GAH!" She shouted, jumping back. "Todd? What are you doing here?"

"Shhh…" BlitzMouth said. "Call me BlitzMouth, okay? Let's not go revealing my alter-ego, okay?"

"Alright, fine, but WHAT are you doing here!?"

"There was a line at the bathroom, so I had to get out of there before they brought back a security officer, or something."

"Okay." Kate shook her head. "I guess you're helping me investigate too, right?

"Investigating a missile silo disguised as a circus… Heck yeah!" BlitzMouth pumped his fist in the air, as his Omnitrix symbol began beeping, transforming him into:

"Aw man!" He said, stomping the ground. "I'm OverRoot!"

"Okay." Kate gulped. "This is officially bad."

"What are we gonna do?!" OverRoot said, panicked. "What if I NEVER turn human again?!"

Kate slapped OverRoot in the face. "Will you get a grip?!"

"Okay. Yes. Get a grip. Duh." OverRoot shook his head back and forth.

Kate and OverRoot snuck around the circus's stage, and into a room labeled 'employee's only.' OverRoot grew several large roots out of the ground, and forced them to tear the door from it's hinges, and threw it aside. He and Kate high-fived, and they snuck into the room, only to see a strange-looking man in a room, with several hundred people, who were each sitting at desks, asleep. The man was wearing large, puffy pants, and a circus vest, with pale, white skin, and red hair, and finally he was also wearing a top-hat. He turned around, and stared at Todd and Kate.

"Well, well!" He said, grinning. "Hiya, kid, and… Thing! My name's Zombozo! I'm teaching a class on how to be happy, since these schmucks are apparently from frowny-ville!"

Kate and OverRoot's jaws dropped to the floor. They expected something weird, but this was far weirder.

"Uh, yeah. Look, we wanted to ask about whether or not you knew anything about, you know, the missiles the zoo was firing at us earlier." Kate said, still dumbfounded.

"Well, then you should ask the guy who fired them, not me!" Zombozo grinned. "Now look, this place is labeled employees only, and your not an employee. So do you wanna be one, or were you kids just leaving?" Zombozo grinned, revealing dozens of sharp, yellow teeth.

Kate and OverRoot both recoiled in disgust. They both looked at each other. Neither of them really knew how to respond to this whole thing.

"Uh… Hey, if you're teaching a class, why are all your students so BORED?" Todd asked, curious.

Zombozo frowned. "Well, if I'm gonna teach a class on happiness, I need theirs, obviously.

"Oh, wow." Kate gulped. "That really sounds like a 'You know too much, so now I'm gonna kill you line.' "

"Something like that." Zombozo turned to the back of the class, looking at a tall woman, with long, orange hair, with black balls at the end of each, thick strand. "FrightWig, baby, would you kindly initiate these children into our class?"

FrightWig stood up, and shot out a dozen strands of hair at the twins. Kate jumped out of the way, but OverRoot shot several vines back at her, entangling the hair. FrightWig gasped in confusion, and while the chance was still open, OverRoot grabbed a desk, and threw it at FrightWig. She saw this, though, and chopped it in half with her remaining hair, sending splinters all over the room.

"Oh dear me!" Zombozo feigned shock. "This is getting messy!" He turned to a large, muscular man, with a fingernail on his head. "ThumbSkull, would you kindly take this little scuffle outside?"

The man nodded, and grabbed both OverRoot and FrightWig, and threw them both through wall that Zombozo's chalkboard was on, demolishing both the wall, and the board. Kate ran out of the room after them. Zombozo walked over to ThumbSkull, and slapped his head.

"Next time, try not to throw your fellow co-worker through the wall TOO!" Zombozo shouted. "Now get out there, and take care of those delinquents!"

"Fine." ThumbSkull muttered, and walked through the wall.

"Ugh." Lastly, Zombozo turned to a bald man, with a few strands of hair on his head, and weird, bulging eyes. "Hey, AcidBreath. Go make sure ThumbSkull doesn't forget his head, will you?"

"Yes, sir!" AcidBreath jumped onto Zombozo's desk, and threw the hole after them.

Zombozo shook his head. "Seriously. How hard is it to find good help these days?"

()

"GAH!" OverRoot shouted, tumbling onto the ground, as ThumbSkull lumbered over him. "You're strong, huh?"

OverRoot created several vines, which grabbed ThumbSkull's ankles, and lifted him into the air, before slamming him back into the ground, then back again, then forwards, then back, then forwards, before finally throwing ThumbSkull into the seats, breaking the ones he fell on.

"And let that be a lesson to you!" OverRoot said. He tapped his Omnitrix symbol's middle, emitting a flash of blue light, and becoming:

"REFRACTOR!" He shouted, just as AcidBreath jumped over to him, and breathed acid on him from mid-air.

Refractor created a diamond shield, and used it to shield himself from the acid, before he burst out of it, the impact being enough to send AcidBreath flying several yards backwards. Kate, meanwhile, had managed to run around the battle, and saw FrightWig standing in front of her. FrightWig smirked, and grabbed Kate with her hair, holding her upside down.

"Well, you two certainly are very flexible, aren't you?"

"You could say that…" Kate muttered, and mutated her arm into HeatBlast's, burning FrightWig's hair, which Kate used to front flip out of, and kick FrightWig in the face.

"You little brat!" FrightWig shouted, and tore out several seats with her hair, before throwing them at Kate.

Kate transformed her arms into FaceBall's, and fused her arms into a giant baseball bat, and hit the seats off elsewhere in the circus. FrightWig turned back to Kate, and scowled at her, before roundhouse kicking her into the wall.

"The hair doesn't make the lady." FrightWig said, cracking her knuckles.

"Nope." Kate said, mutating her arms into HandyMan's. "The HANDS do!"

Kate grabbed FrightWig's ankles, and threw her backwards into the wall. FrightWig groaned, as a chair fell from it's stand, and hit her in the head, knocking her unconscious. Kate grinned, and ran back to Refractor, who was in the middle of having a full-fledged boxing match with ThumbSkull, with AcidBreath also attacking him. Refractor grabbed ThumbSkull, holding him over his head, and threw him into AcidBreath as they both yelled. The goons got up to fight again, but Refractor encased them in a diamond Ball, which Kate picked up, and drove into the ground. Refractor and Kate both fist-bumped each other.

"That's one ugly snow-globe." Kate joked.

"Yeah. But it's not over until we take down the Zombozo."

"Agreed." Kate grinned.

()

The twins both sprinted back into the staff room, but couldn't find Zombozo. Refractor's timer also ended, and was changed into SillyClone. He sighed in annoyance. SillyClone split into 5, and they split up to search the classroom. Kate, meanwhile, checked up on the unconscious students. Their bodies were cold, and pale. Whatever Zombozo had been doing, it must have involved some kind of body part… Was it actually possible…

"Hey, SillyClone?" Kate asked, turning to him. "Do you actually think Zombozo found a way to steal these guys's happiness… ?"

"No way!" The first SillyClone said, who was pulling on books on the bookshelf.

"You can't just TAKE somebody's emotion!" The second SillyClone replied, searching the teacher's desk.

"Well, maybe all of them, but not just a single one, right guys?" A fourth SillyClone asked, swinging back-and-forth on a ceiling lamp.

"How would I know?" The second one asked, now spinning around in the chair.

"I'm not getting anywhere with you guys." Kate sighed, turning back to the desks, before she gasped.

"What? What is it?!" The SillyClonse asked, running to Kate.

"It's… It's your friends."

The SillyClones became on, and he looked at the two kids in front of her, both wearing sweatshirts, Casey wearing a green one, and Brendon wearing a navy-blue one. He turned back to Kate, astounded.

"Yeah. It's them, alright… What are they doing HERE?"

"Probably wanted to see the circus, but got roped into Zombozo' stupid class."

"Geez." SillyClone sighed. "And, of course, I'm stuck as an alien, and they're unconscious. I guess we really had no point coming out here."

"Don't say that." Kate said. "We're gonna figure all this out."

"We'd better." SillyClone mumbled.

The classroom shook, interrupting the conversation. The floor split into 4 segments, and Zombozo rose out of the ground, attached to a large, metal cable. He had a large, maniacal grin, and as glowing a sickly green.

"Well, 'ello there, my little snoopers…" He said. "Looks like you just couldn't get enough of me, could you?"

"Nope!" Kate said, mutating her arms into BlitzMouth's. "In fact, we decided to send you into retirement!"

"Interesting… Well, no matter. You can never have too much happiness, I always say!"

Kate yelled, and dug her claws into two desks, and used them as boxing gloves. She ran at Zombozo, and began swinging at him, while Zombozo dodged the blows. Eventually, Kate leapt at him, and clapped the desks together, causing Zombozo to shout in pain, before he swung a tentacle at the, and she hit the bookshelf with a 'smack.' SillyClone multiplied himself into 10, and they surrounded Zombozo, before they ran at the machine, and pulling pieces off of it, and punching, and headbutting the machine.

"STOP THAT! I paid good money for this machine, you infants!" Zombozo yelled, grabbing the SillyClones, and sucking the happiness from them, before throwing their lifeless bodies to the floor.

"NO!" Kate yelled, before she looked up at Zombozo. "Okay, that's it, you clown." Kate growled. "You're going down!"

She grabbed Zombozo by the shoulders, and forcefully disconnected him from the machine, and threw him into the middle of the circus stage, just as a lion was pawing at it's cage. Zombozo grinned, and opened the cage, immediately.

"Okay, kitty!" He said. "Go take care of those little brats for me, okay?"

The lion just looked at him. Zombozo stuttered.

"W-well?!" He shouted. "Go eat those little shape-shifting brats!"

The lion just walked over to Zombozo, licked him, and then walked off. Zombozo screamed in frustration, and saw a whip next to the cage, and he grinned.

()

"HYU!" Yunai yelled. "Hyu, are you okay?"

Hyu looked at himself. He was back to human, and wearing his super-suit. He tried to ask what was going on, but couldn't get the words out. Yunai filled him in.

"I took care of Zombozo's machine, and now everybody's souls should be returning, I think. I turned my head into GreyMatter's, and fixed your Splicatrix, by the way."

"Nice." Hyu mumbled. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably die." Yunai shrugged. "Need a hand?"

She helped Hyu up, and the 2 exited into the circus, only to see Zombozo desperately trying to tame a lion with a whip, and failing miserably.

"Come on, nice cat!" He shouted. "Just eat the kids, how hard is that?!"

He whipped the lion directly, and the lion yowled in pain. It turned around, and swatted Zombozo to the floor, as Yunai walked over, and trapped him using Refractor's diamonds. She grinned. As Yunai turned around, she saw Hyu, petting the lion, and giving it hugs.

"Hyu, what are you doing with that thing?!"

"Aw don't worry Sis!" Hyu assured her. "It's tamed! Can we keep it?! Pretty please?!"

"Alright. I'll go find a leash for it. Also, your friends are over there, waking up." Yunai pointed to the classroom. "Why don't you go say hi? Maybe try and fix the wounds?"

"I dunno." Hyu sighed. "What if they don't wanna be my friend again?"

"Ask them why." Yunai said, turning around. "At least then you'll know."

Hyu nodded, deactivated his suit, and walked back to the classroom.

()

Outside the Zoo, Kate was explaining the Zombozo disaster to a security guard, who nodded, and took a few other officers with him to go check it out. Kate turned after them, to see Todd walking towards her.

"So?" Kate asked. "How'd it go?"

"Brendon actually said he missed me. Casey begrudgingly said maybe I could hang out with them sometime!" Todd said, fist-pumping. "So, I'd say alright."

"Aw, Todd." Kate smiled. "I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah… So, what's the deal with the lion?"

"Apparently, they couldn't get him to do tricks. And, since he was the fake circus's only animal, They actually let me keep him, especially after the whole Zombozo thing!"

"So, are you telling me, that we have a pet lion?!" Todd said, jumping up and down.

"Yep."

"Awesome! … Wait, what are we gonna do about Fluffy?" Todd asked, concerned.

"Duh, we put Fluffy in the kennel, and keep this guy on a tight leash, until we have this whole thing figured out. We're not keeping in the house, though."

Todd smiled, before looking at the lion's collar. " 'Mr. Toodles?' "

"If you're making fun of his name, I will sic him on you." Kate grinned evilly.

"I'm not!" Todd shouted.

"Good." Kate turned around, only to see Matheo getting off of a pirate ship, with turbines, and helicopter blades, which promptly soared off into the clouds. Matheo then turned around to see the twins, and nodded his head at them.

"Hey, big M!" Kate said, waving at him. "Where were you?!"

"Eh." Matheo shrugged. "It's a long story."

"We went to the zoo, and fought a zombie-clown and his circus freaks." Todd said.

"And we got this awesome lion out of it!" Kate pointed at Mr. Toodles.

"A LION?!" Matheo shouted, and fainted.

"After everything that's happened this past month, how did THAT scare him?" Todd asked.

"I dunno, maybe it's a phobia?" Kate guessed, as Mr. Toodles licked Matheo's face.


	13. O13: Day of the Wormholes!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd, Kate, and Matheo return to the government base, and battle against Dr. Animo, and Legladon, Matheo's former friend!

Todd Harrison was looking at Mr. Toodles, the Harrisons's very own pet lion, playing in his wildlife reserve, which Matheo, his twin brother, had gracefully built for him. He was licking a chew toy, and hugging it close to his chest. Todd was scrolling through the apps on his Splicatrix. Apparently, there were apps for all sorts of things, such as telling time, a GPS, and even a digital tracking system, though he had no clue how to even activate such a thing.

"This is pretty sweet." Todd grinned. "I bet Matheo can't do half of this stuff."

The door to the reserve was flung open by Kate Harrison, Todd's twin sister. She was extremely panicked, and was covered in smoke and dust. She shook the particles off of her, before she stared at Todd.

"Dude, what are you doing HERE?!" She shouted. "The Museum is being messed up, big time!"

"Which museum?!" Todd asked, excitedly, jumping up and down.

"The one you and Matheo got your Omnitrixes from!"

"Awesome!" Todd looked down at his Splicatrix, with a cocky grin. "Time to test out the new-and-improved 'Omni-Kix!' "

Kate nodded, and the two tapped their index fingers to the middle of their respective Omni-Cores, which spun around 180 degrees, before coating their bodies in Matheo's super suits. Hyu felt his body. There were no missing limbs, no missing anything. The suit had been transferred to his suit with no mishaps. Yunai cracked her knuckles.

"You ready to go take… Uh… Wait a minute." Yunai squinted at the TV news station covering the incident. "Is that…?"

"What's the deal?" Hyu asked, impatiently, walking to the screen, before he stopped. "Whoa. Matheo… Uh, Besu's already there."

"Yeah, and he's having trouble! Let's go!"

"Okay, but first, what's going down this time? What are we attacking?!" Hyu shouted after her.

Yunai grew two large wings on her back. "Some kind of blob guy. When you get there, you can ask HIM. Now come on!"

She took off, and Hyu dialed in XLR8, slamming the core down, and emitting a flash of blue light.

()

The Splicatrix sank into Hyu's arm, and veins ran all over it, and up to his face, transmogrifying his face, making it blue, with black lines running from his forehead to his chin. His legs became long, and his feet grew wheels on their soles, and finally, 3 long claws grew out of his hands. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he threw his visor down.

()

"XLR8!" He said quickly, before sighing. "I haven't used this guy too often… Time to make up for that!"

XLR8 speed off, out of the driveway, jumping onto a building's wall, sprinting to the top of it's ceiling in seconds, parkouring over to another building in the blink of an eye. When he reached Yunai, he slowed down, and activated his Com-Link, and messaged her.

"Hey, sis!" XLR8 said, keeping his focus on the perilous drops ahead of him. "The base is outside the city to the right! We should probably turn any second now!"

"I was on the trip too, dude." Yunai said. "I'm just trying to see if it's escalated outside of the base."

"Huh?" XLR8 asked, almost tripping over a pipe in confusion. "Why?"

"To keep you distracted!" Yunai soared down, grabbing XLR8's neck, and throwing him into the concrete road below.

"UNGH!" As XLR8 laid, struggling to move, Yunai glided to the ground, and mutated her arms into FourArm's, before she grabbed a nearby bench, and broke it in half of XLR8's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Nighty-night, you annoying little agent."

()

When Hyu awoke, he was still human, and being carried across a desert. He couldn't move his arms, or his legs, but his Splicatrix did have a large, metal cover, making it useless. He was being carried by a large man in black clothing, with a bald head.

"Ow… My head…" Hyu said, apparently still being able to talk.

"I'd quit blabbering if I was you, kid." The man said. "It's not gonna get you anywhere."

Yunai was walking alongside, glaring at Hyu and the man, with her arms crossed. They had reached the base, and Hyu was thrown to the ground, Yunai still keeping a very close eye on him, and scowling at him. The large man opened the gate, before he grabbed Todd again, and dragged him into the base.

"Why?" Hyu asked, meeting Yunai's eyes.

"Shut your trap." Yunai replied, and kicked him in the head. "You had this coming."

They entered the museum lobby, and the large man slid Hyu across the glossy floor, and a foot came down on his side. Legladon's face leaned down out of the shadows.

"Hello, Harrison." He grinned. "I see your still wearing that stolen incrimination on your arm."

"Who are you, again?" Hyu asked, confused. "I wanna say… Animo. You're Animo, right?"

"Don't be a wiseguy, kid." Legladon sighed, and stomped his foot on Hyu's shoulder. "It'll never get you anywhere."

"It got me this far…" Hyu groaned.

"Admirable, sure." Legladon admitted. "But this is as far as you go."

Legladon unsheathed a rifle, and pointed it at Todd's face. He smirked, before Besu kicked the rifle to the ground, and uppercut Legladon into the air.

"Stop this Legladon." Besu groaned, holding up his Optitrix. "I'm going easy on you. Don't change that."

"That's your problem, kid." Legladon sighed, and pointed to Besu. "Yunai, eliminate this bug."

Yunai ran at Besu, before she mutated her hands into giant, orange, furrly limbs, with sharp claws at the ends. She swung at Besu, who barely dodged out of the way.

Hyu saw what was happening, and tried to stand up, but it was impossible. He was stuck, watching his own siblings murder each other. This was it. And after they were done, he was next. It was all over, unless Hyu could somehow intervene.

"YUNAI!" Hyu shouted, to no avail. "Yunai, come on! Whatever you think this is helping, it's not!"

Yunai didn't listen, instead grabbing a computer from behind a desk, and smashing it into Besu's face, causing him to fly back several feet.

"Yunai, stop! He's your brother! What's even going on with you?! You're not being mind-controlled, that's for sure!"

Yunai stopped, and slowly looked at Hyu.

"You're not being mind-controlled at all, are you? Because you still talk! And your strategies are pretty much the same, too!"

Yunai nervously looked at Legladon, who was fuming, now. He screamed in frustration, and took out a small remote, hitting a blue button on it, causing her body to be consumed in electricity. Yunai screamed in pain, before she started yawning. Legladon stared at her in confusion, before he realized that she had mutated her hand into PlugNPlay's, and was absorbing the energy. She fired it back at Legladon, who yelped, and jumped out of the way.

"Yeah, thanks for blowing my cover, dude." Yunai sighed, glaring at Hyu.

"I… Did, huh?"

"Yeah."

"What were you trying to accomplish anyways?"

"I just wanted to figure out what his plan was, but no luck on that road."

Hyu heard a thump in the distance, then a few seconds later. Then, a large, green tongue shot threw the ceiling, before a giant, mutated frog, with spikes on it's back fell from the ceiling, and Dr. Animo floated down, with a jetpack on his back, grinning evilly.

"You wanted to know of his PLANS, children?!" Animo asked, loudly.

"How… How did you even hear-?"

"THIS beauty was his plan!" Animo cried, pointing to the frog, who yawned.

"Kate…" Hyu whispered to Yunai. "I. Can't. Move."

"Got it." Yunai said, picking him up, and mutating her legs into XLR8, and speeding behind the desk, dropping Hyu off. "Don't mov-!"

Yunai was interrupted by the desk being ripped off it's hinges, as the frog threw it into the wall with it's tongue.

"How touching." Animo said, impatiently. "Well, you two have your emotional last words... My pet desires his LUNCH!"

"GO, GO!" Hyu yelled, as the frog shot it's tongue at them.

Yunai threw a piece of debris at it, before grabbing Hyu, and speeding away. She ran up the wall, and across the ceiling, dropping Hyu off next to a bench, before she ran over to Besu, and pulled him out from under a pile of rubble.

"Besu!" Yunai shouted, slapping him across his face. "Come on, Besu, wake up!"

"Okay, fine!" Besu shouted dusting himself. "So much for a dramatic reveal..."

"Feeling much less confidant now, aren't we?" They heard a voice say, as Legladon sauntered towards the triplets.

"If you're looking for an admission of defeat, dude." Hyu groaned. "You're looking at the wrong kids."

"Now that's a statement I agree with." Besu said, activating his Optitrix, and becoming: "GoldenGuy!"

GoldenGuy activated his hoverboard, and flew under the Mutant Frog's chin, before he upprercut it, sending it rolling onto it's back.

"Nice job, Besu!" Hyu cheered from behind his corner.

"Dude, either do something, or shut up!" Besu yelled back at him. "... Uh, thanks, though."

Hyu sighed, and focused all of his will power on moving his right arm, and barely managed to make it twitch. He gasped, and, after much concentration, managed to turn himself onto his back. Hyu barely lifted his Splicatrix up, activated it, and exploded into a flash of blue light, and emerging as:

"AMPHIBIAN!" He yelled, and became intangible, flying up to the chandelier on the roof, before he became tangible again, causing it to explode, and dimming the room.

Fortunately for him, though, Amphibian was capable of seeing in the dark, and so flew into Animo's jetpack as well, causing it to short-circuit, and send both it, and Animo, flying up into the ceiling, and exploding. Animo fell to the ground.

Yunai on the other hand, was dueling Legladon, who had found a rather large laser-rapier, and was attacking Yunai with it.

"You little thieves!" Legladon shouted at the top of his lungs, attacking her angrily. "Those Omnitrixes were MINE! They have been for 30 years!"

"What do you even mean?!" Yunai asked, tearing ceiling tiles out of the floor, and throwing them at him.

"Do you actually think that your brothers were the first Omnitrix wielders?!" He scoffed. "Not a chance."

"So there were other people who used them in the past?!" Yunai kicked Legladon in the ankles, but he recovered, and stabbed at her with the rapier. "You expect me to believe that?!"

"It's true!" Legladon shouted. "I unlocked a whole 16 aliens on there, before it stopped working, and fell off my arm!"

"Well, if you didn't accomplish anything with it, then I guess that explains why I ain't never heard of you!"

"How DARE you!" Legladon screamed, and ran at Yunai.

In response, she kicked him in the face, and pushed off of him, sending him to the ground. "Sorry to break it to you, bro, but the Harrison triplets are the only ones with Omnitrixes, no two ways about it."

"Sorry to burst your bubble." A new, young voice said from behind her.

Yunai turned around, and looked down, to see an 11-year-old, looking back at her, wearing a white T-shirt with a vertical black stripe in the middle, and baggy green cargo pants. He had emerald green eyes, and scruffy brown hair, and, most noticeably, a device on his left wrist resembling Matheo's Optitrix, but with a green hourglass symbol, and white tubes, instead of red.

"Name's Ben Tennyson." He said, looking at Kate. "I'll cut to the chase. I'm pretty sure I'm from another dimension.

"How…?" Yunai asked in confusion.

"Look out!" Ben grabbed Yunai's arm, and pulled her out of the way, as the mutant frog was thrown past him.

GoldenGuy shouted out, pumping his fists in the air, before he looked at Ben. "Who's this kid?"

"Ben Tennyson. Nice to meet you…"

"Besu. Or 'GoldenGuy,' in this form."

"Besu, huh? Let me give you a tip, go with Besu. 'GoldenGuy' is a terrible name."

"You want good alien names?" Besu scoffed. "Talk to Hyu. He keeps saying I should call this guy 'MinerAll,' or something like that."

"MinerAll." Ben nodded his head. "You should definitely go with that."

"Noo…" Besu groaned. "You're just as annoying with names as him..."

Besu ran after the mutant frog, as Ben turned back to Yunai, shrugging. "What's HIS deal?"

"Who knows?" Yunai looked around for Hyu. "Look… How DID you get to this dimension, anyways?"

"Well, the last thing I remember, I was sitting in the back of the RustBucket, and my Omnitrix started talking about how it had 'connected with another specimen,' and boom, I'm helping you guys fight… Is that Dr. Animo with an exploding jetpack?"

"So, one of US teleported you here… But how...?"

"We'll figure that out later." Ben said, patting Yunai's shoulder. "For now… It's HERO TIME!"

Ben popped up his Omnitrix's core, and slammed it back down, emitting a bright flash of green light.

()

Veins ran up ben's arm, and his eyes receded into his face, while a much larger eye appeared on his chest. 2 large, fleshy ears grew out of the top of his head. As well as this, smaller eyes appeared all around his body, and an Omnitrix symbol appeared on his belt, and he shot green lasers out of his many eyes.

()

"EYEGUY!" He yelled, and ran at the Mutant Frog, who growled at the heroes, before leaping onto the ceiling, before jumping back at EyeGuy.

EyeGuy mergde his eyes into a large eye on his chest, which fired a gigantic beam into the frog's mouth, exploding it back, into the wall at the opposite end of the museum. While this was happening, several dozen men in black suits swarmed around the heroes, and began pointing pistols at them. A man in white, powered up armor glared at them all, and his gauntlets became electrified. He shouted out a battle cry, and ran at the heroes, before Amphibian flew out of the ground, and short-circuited his armor, forcibly freezing the man in place, as he fell to the ground. The soldiers kept guards kept surrounding the heroes regardless, until…

"SHCLUP!" A massive wave of guards were swept off of the floor, before being brutally smashed into the floor by the mutant frog, before slowly pulling the still moving bodies it's mouth, slurping all the while.

"Oh, beyond gross." EyeGuy said, recoiling.

"I would have preferred literally ANY other type of help." GoldenGuy agreed.

"We have a code red!" A guard yelled into his earpiece, and they began shooting at the frog, practically ignoring the heroes.

"I think that's our ticket out of here." GoldenGuysaid, pointing at the door.

"No way!" Eyeguy said. "Those guys are no match for that frog-thing! We're gonna have to take it down sooner or later, and I'm saying sooner. You guys in?"

"Oh, I'm gonna regret this." Yunai sighed.

"Heck yeah, we're in!" Amphibian said, turning the symbol to select an alien. "Let me just splice with… Ah, how about CannonBolt?"

"Oh, good choice for a fusion." EyeGuy said, already shooting lasers at the Mutant Frog.

"You can say that again!" Amphibian shouted, and slammed his Omnitrix symbol, becoming engulfed in blue light.

()

Amphibian's Omnitrix symbol grew 4 spikes, resembling an 'X,' and his tentacles became extremely flat, paper-like limbs. His eyes became scribbly, and drawn-on-looking, before finally, 3 long paper spikes grew out of his back.

()

"BoltPhibbian!" He said, before he looked at himself. "Wait… I guess… AmpCut?"

"But how is that possible?" Yunai asked, confused. "I thought you could control that whole fusion thing?"

"So did I!" AmpCut said.

"Unless…" Eyeguy suggested, cautiously. "You weren't supposed to be doing that, and it's finally taken a toll on the Splicatrix?"

The triplets looked at each other in silence.

"Well, that's awfully specific!" AmpCut shouted, before the Splicatrix began beeping pink. "...But also correct..."

The Splicatrix gave off an electric signal, before a small, black sphere was extruded from AmpCut's Omnitrix symbol, and levitated towards the middle of the room.

"I think I know how Ben got here… The Splicatrix's malfunctions must have done it!" GoldenGuy yelled before he was slowly lifted off the ground. "AGH!"

"Hold on!" Yunai said, and grabbed onto some exposed rebar from where the desk was torn out, and mutated her arm into OverRoot's stretching out and Grabbing GoldenGuy, who was quickly being pulled into the black hole.

"This is bad!" AmpCut yelled, before he was suddenly transformed back into human. "Oh boy."

Yunai barely managed to grab Hyu, and pulled him back out of the exit, as EyeGuy dived out of the building with them. He looked at Hyu, as the heroes were running away from the building which was quickly exploding.

"Oh boy." He said. "Bad time to time out, man."

"You think?" Hyu replied, annoyed.

"I got you guys!" Yunai shouted, mutating her arms into FourArm's and her legs into XLR8's, and speeding off into the distance.

EyeGuy looked behind them, and instantly regretted it, seeing the black hole catching up to them.

"Can't you go any faster?!" He yelled, desperately. "We're gonna be disintegrated!"

Hyu gulped, and opened the apps section on his Splicatrix, scrolled over to codes, and began typing in random combinations, as quickly as he could. Hopefully one of his guys could contain a black hole, otherwise, he was screwed.

"No, I can't!" Yunai shouted back. "Because I'm only 1/3rd XLR8, so I can only go 1/3rd as fast! Duh!"

"Oh crap. We're really gonna die." GoldenGuy said, blankly.

Hyu realized this was taking too long. He'd just have to go with some random alien, and hope for the best.

"No, we're not." Hyu said, faking confidence.

"And what makes you say that?!" EyeGuy asked, delirious.

"Because… I'm gonna stop it. Yunai, when I say 'now,' let me go, okay?!"

"Okay…?" Yunai said confused. "Just hope you have a plan."

Hyu activated his Splicatrix, and spun the dial to Upgrade. He gulped, but shrugged, and slammed his core down.

()

The Splicatrix sank into Hyu's arm, and veins ran all over it, and up to his face, transmogrifying his face, making it blue, with black lines running from his forehead to his chin. His legs became long, and his feet grew wheels on their soles, and finally, 3 long claws grew out of his hands. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he threw his visor down.

()

"XLR8?" He asked, before sighing.

EyeGuy sputtered in confusion. "And what's HE supposed to do?!"

"No idea, but we're about to find out!" XLR8 shouted, jumping out of Yunai's arm, and sprinting directly at the black hole, and picking up speed rapidly.

"WHAT is he doing?!" GoldenGuy asked, confused.

"No clue, but I've got to help him out." Yunai said, dropping the heroes, and running full speed at the black hole, before morphing the rest of her body into a female XLR8.

GoldenGuy and EyeGuy both nodded, and hit their Omnitrix symbols, transforming into XLR8's, themselves. Todd sent a message to the other XLR8's.

"Guys, I've got a REALLY crazy idea, but if this it's gonna work, we have to be at different spots of the black hole, and running around it at different place, not all in one place. In other words, spread out from each other, but stay close to the hole!"

"Got it!" Matheo, Kate, and Ben all said, spreading out around the black hole, and slowly beginning to shrink it back down.

"What are we even doing?!" Ben asked, in confusion.

"The combined forces of all 4 XLR8's are actually somehow reversing time." Matheo explained. "Be it in this one spot, or the entire planet, like in Super-Man, I don't know, but it hardly matters!"

"Whatever we're doing, it's working!" Kate shouted excitedly, as the city was slowly rebuilt by their efforts. "We're actually doing it!"

"Don't stop, team!" Todd shouted. "We're almost there!"

Seconds later, the heroes managed to fully force the Black Hole to implode on itself, and disappear for good. They were back at the Base, standing with both Legladon, and Dr. Animo, and the bodies of the guards on the floor.

"Okay, ToadFace!" Ben said, opening his visor. "It's time to finish this."

"Indeed, it is." Animo grinned. "Get these last treats, my pet!"

In response, the toad stuck it's tongue out, and grabbed Lgladon, who let out an audible gasp of fear, before he was pulled into the frog's mouth. Legladon put his hands on the Frog's lips, and tried not to let himself be devoured.

"What's… What's going on?!" Legladon cried. "Animo, what's your fleabrained blob doing now?!"

"Getting rid of you. I'll be the one to take down the Omni-Triplets, not you!"

"NO!" Matheo yelled, sprinting over to Legladon, trying to pull him out. "Come on, Leg! You're not going anywhere!"

"Get off me!" Legladon yelled, trying to swat Matheo away, but he persisted.

"No, Leg. You're my friend…!" Kate, Todd, and Ben ran to Matheo, and helped him pull Legladon out of the Mutant Frog's mouth, and onto the floor.

"But… "

"It was just business, dude." Matheo laughed. "You're still my friend."

"Ugh." Animo groaned. "Fine. I guess you need a bit more persuasion."

Animo whistled loudly, and a fierce-looking lion with glazed eyes broke through the wall, Roaring loudly. It ran at the heroes, who each dived out of the way.

"Don't tell me… Mr. Toodles?!" Todd asked, absolutely heartbroken. "What… How?!"

"Simple, he escaped your wildlife enclosure, and was wandering the streets. I took him in, and gave him some… refinements. Nothing all that complicated, really."

"Hyu, come on. We've gotta do this."

Todd looked down at the Splicatrix symbol on his chest. He saw the different symbols on it, and thought how easy it could be to take down Animo of XLR8, and HeatBlast, or something like that. But, he knew the consequences of doing that. With all this in mind, Todd reluctantly refused to turn the symbol, and slapped the symbol normally, for once, and there was a large flash of blue light.

()

Diamond protrusions shot out of XLR8's back, and his hands became coated in diamonds, as well was his face. He struck a headstrong pose.

()

"Okay, Mr. Toodles." Refractor8 said, running at the rampaging, mutate lion. "You and I are gonna have to have very difficult conversation!"

Refractor8 transformed his hands into diamond mallets, and leapt at the lion, hitting it square in the jaw, and sending it barreling through the door.

Matheo touched his core, and emitted a bright flash of red light.

()

The form of XLR8 dissipated from Matheo's body, and he became human, once again. Slimy ropes tied themselves around Matheo's arms and a large, slender shell formed itself on Matheo's back, and his eyes became elongated stalks. Finally, six cannon-like holes appeared on his chest. He sneezed, before smirking weakly.

()

SnailGuy sprayed slime all over Animo, which quickly froze itself to the ground.

"You stay right there." SnailGuy said, turning back to the frog. "Hey, Ben!"

"Yeah?" Ben asked, still XLR8. "What's up?"

"You ready to take care of this giant frog once and for all?"

"You know it!" Ben said, giving a thumbs-up, and the two lunged at the frog, shouting.

()

Kate, as XLR8, and Refractor8 emerged outside of the museum, staring down Mutated Mr. Toodles, who got up, angrily looking at them.

"Somebody's been a bad kitty." Kate said, and ran around Mr. Toodles so fast, that she created a tornado, which dropped Mr. Toodles onto the floor extremely painfully as soon as it dissipated.

"Likewise." Refractor8 grinned, and wrapped the lion's chest in a diamond cage, before lifting it high up into the air, and throwing it back down.

When the dust settled, Refractor8 and Kate both looked at Mr. Toodles, who was now back to normal, and covered in cuts, and bruises. Refractor8 and Kate both looked at each other, starting to feel a bit of worry. Refractor8 reached out his hand to pet the lion, but Mr. Toodles tried to bite his hand. Since Refractor8's hand was made of diamonds, Mr. Toodles yelped, and ran off into the horizon. Refractor8 and Kate both looked at each other, and silently agreed not to go after it.

()

As Matheo and Ben both exited the museum, now in human form, Matheo was talking to Ben about possible theories about how he was supposed to get back to his dimension.

"I think it's some kind of temporal anomaly." Matheo said. "And since you never activated your Omnitrix after the Black hole was taken care of, I think that as soon as you do, you should be back to where you started, as long as the RV wasn't moving."

"Oh, it wasn't." Ben said, dismissively. "... So, I guess that's it, then, huh guys?" Ben asked, looking at the triplets.

"It was nice working with you, man." Todd said, fist-bumping him.

"Yeah, you guys too." Ben shrugged. "Though, I do kind of wish I had some of your guys's aliens. And gadgets. And mixing DNA together. That seems like it would be kinda cool."

"Well, how about my sample for PlugNPlay?" Todd asked, opening his Splicatrix. "It displays the code here. It would be 3112872."

"Wait, how would you put codes in anything that isn't the Splicatrix?" Kate asked, confused. "Because, that's the only one with a touch screen?"

"It's simple Kate." Ben laughed. "You just have to turn it to the corresponding alien. Takes forever, but…"

Ben's Omnitrix beeped with conformation. "New DNA unlocked."

He grinned back at Todd, just as the Omnitrix's activation began to open a wormhole behind him. "Thanks for that man." Ben said, giving Todd a thumbs-up. "I can't wait to try this one out on the town."

They waved goodbye as Ben walked through the wormhole, and it disappeared, into a flurry of electric bolts, and faded into nothing.

"You know, I like that kid." Todd said, as he began walking home. "He struck a chord with me."

"Yeah, well, that's not the only weird thing involving other Omnitrix users today." Kate said, bringing over an absolutely Legladon from the pretty much demolished museum. "Tell them, Legladon."

"Yes, it's true." Legladon sighed. "I used to wield the Optritrix."

"What…?" Matheo asked, concerned.

"It stopped working one day, as if someone had calibrated it specifically for your DNA, Matheo. Why do you think I became friends with you in the first place?"

"No…" Matheo backed away horrified, before he took off running into the distance.

"Matheo!" Todd shouted, running after him, as Kate gave Lagladon a dirty look.

"It's the truth, alright sweetheart?" Legladon said, sighing. "What do you want from me?"

Kate's eyes ignited with rage, before they died out, seconds later. "Nothing. And yet, you still found some way to disappoint me. Congrats."

Kate ran after her brothers, as Legladon looked at them, before he smirked, then grinned, and chuckled at the triplets's ignorance. And then, he began walking back to the museum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued, in "Adventures of the Omni-Triplets: Rebooted!"


End file.
